Derren Brown

[st0nes]

But nobody even noticed he was there.

There was a Boston Legal episode where a bergie threw a rock at Danny Crane for ignoring him.  Alan Shaw admitted he hadn't noticed him either until the rock was thrown.  I remember thinking how true that was.

[Mefiante]

Oops.  Denny Crane and Alan Shore.



'Luthon64

[st0nes]

Oops.  Denny Crane and Alan Shore.

Thanks for the info.  I've only heard the names, never seen them written down.

[AcinonyxScepticus]

Could've just plopped it down in a place where there is some other, more immediate distraction around. Hot chick on a sign becomes visible at just that spot, etc...

Remember in magic a major element of the trick is distraction. You won't see the slight if you're being misdirected somewhere else...

I think you're right.  And there might be another contributing factor; consider what you'd be doing walking in one of the busiest pedestrian intersections in London.  I don't know about you but I'd be looking at pedestrians to avoid running into some random person walking in a direction I wasn't expecting - not down at the ground.  The circle he drew around the wallet seems to be for no other reason than to make the audience believe that the circle is significant.

James

[Wandapec]

Denny Crane and Alan Shore.

They are just frikkin' awesome! 

[murraybiscuit]

the wallet experiment probably works due to the diffusion of responsibility
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_responsibility

in a similar way to pedestrians doing nothing about a suffering person on the side of a busy street (bystander effect)

THE BYSTANDER EFFECT

or nobody calling the cops in the murder of kitty genovese
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Genovese

the idea is that the larger the crowd, the less inclined the individual is to take personal responsibility if they notice something is wrong.
especially if they see inaction modelled by surrounding people before encountering the situation.
obviously the converse would be true as well.

[Superman]

Derren Brown "instant conversion" (explained)

Derren Brown "instant conversion" (explained)

In other forums you should not create a topic when it was created before so I post it here.
This is an interesting show since Derren Brown "converts" Atheists to believe in god. I have never believed in hypnotism but this explanation seems to rely heavily on it. Futher the fallback induction is very interesting. Have you discussed this before. I don't think even if Derren Brown is successful in concerting Atheists to believe in god that it would last very long. I would wake up next morning and start to doubt the experience. Do you think this explanation is correct.

[Brian]

As I understand it, hypnotism basically shuts off the conscious mind (this is by the way not something imposed by the hypnotist but rather the subject's ability with some auto-suggestive steps, to concentrate and let his/her mind do whatever is suggested) and lets the 'sub-conscious' step to the fore (this is a hypnotism 101 lesson); so the 'victim' would do anything (with certain limitations) instructed to do as the sub-conscious is incapable of rational thought; hence an atheist becomes 'religious' and certainly vice versa. Also a man becomes a bear and a woman a quacking duck; Once 'awake' and provided the hypnotic auto-suggestions are properly removed, rationality returns and hey presto the atheist is again just him/herself and the bear is again a man...