h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm interested in these psychological tricks. Is there a name for them? I'd like to search.

Example 1:

You're talking to someone on a chat room.

Chatter: I'm a chartered surveyor
Me: How did you get on with your AC236 exams?
Chatter: Great!

At this point you know they're bluffing because AC236 is some nonsense you've just made up. You see this sort of trickery in dramas and films.

Example 2:

Also seen in films and dramas where a suspect accidentally reveals too much information:

Police: Where were you when the bookies was being robbed?
Suspect: I was watching 'The Great Escape' on the telly.
Police: How do you know what time the bookies was robbed?

You see this in many many films. Minority Report is one example where it is used.

Example 3:

In a shirt shop

Shopkeeper: Our nicest shirts are over there, but you probably can't afford them.
Shopper (in head): I'll buy one just to prove him wrong!


Most people have probably fallen for this sort of thing at some point in their life. I would add that example 3 was tried on me and resulted in a swift exit from the shop and a life boycott!

These are of great interest to me. Any more examples would be welcomed, as well as if it's a named branch of psychology that would be searchable/researchable etc.

I'm intruiged as to why anyone would pretend to be a chartered surveyor in an internet chatroom....

I think Derren Brown bases his whole act around this, it probably has a name like subliminity

Chuckle.

It was years ago when people actually bothered to make sensible conversations in chat rooms. They were actually pretending to be an accountant! Even more bizarre, eh?

"I think Derren Brown bases his whole act around this"

That's what he wants you to think...

In all seriousness, *some* of Brown's act is based on that, but by no means as much as there appears. Much of what appears to be psychological manipulation is in fact "mere" illusion in psychological dressing. It does help to reinject the sense of awe and wonder that magic *should* generate, and which has sadly been lost in an age when for most people magic is perma-tanned Americans doing camera tricks or a borderline catatonic t**t sitting in a box. Brown's magic *feels* like magic - which is as it should be.

A778124

H.

Psychological tricks in my life have usually involved my dad in some way trying to coax me into insanity. Like answering requests with 'no you can' or 'yes you can't.' Invariably in the car when I asked where we were going, he would grin and say 'crazy!' Of course on this point, perhaps he was just being prophetic..mnerherher . And then, good progeny that I am, I came up with tricks like convincing my siblings that I could stop their brains with the remote control if they disobeyed me

These are diferent types of the use of pschological tricks. Example one is a basic con trick. If you don't know the lingo, make up something which sounds like 'insider talk' and most people will be fooled. The finest example of a send up of this can be found in Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Mikado" where Pooh Bar talks of the need for detail to add "verisimilutude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative". So it was well known in Victorian times and, I have no doubt, far earlier than that.

Example two is part of standard police and journalistic interviewing techniques. They use a lot of other tricks to. The best one I know of is the use of body language to check the truth of what people are saying. This is done in several ways, but you first obtain a baseline by asking simple questions you already know the answers to and which will not alarm the person being questioned. That enables you to see what they normally do with their body, eye movements and breathing before you get onto the harder questions. There's a whole study of this as most people use their eye movements in common patterns e.g. focussing above the questionner and to the left indicates pulling something from memory, while focussing above and to the right indicates inventing something. You would probably have to look for books on the psychology of telling how people are lying (there's at least one popular one in print, though i don't recall the title) or on NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) which is a black psychological art which goes into a lot of this.

Example three is basic consumer psychology. You'll probably find books under "Industrial psychology" or possibly there's now books on consumer psychology.

Another example:

A friend of mine had just started a business selling clothes. He went to the supplier and the conversation went like this:

Supplier 1: we've got some new stock in from a big name supplier, but you can't see it!

Supplier 2: oh come on, he's new to the business - give him a break!


We concluded that this was an act.

Any more examples like those above, or places where I can find out more?

Top Tip from 'Men are from Mars...' (heresay - haven't read it yet)

Getting guys to do something for girls - rather than saying "I need you to do this", say "it'd make me really happy if you did this for me"

<'hearsay'>

Nice Freudian one there!

I find that "There's something I need your help with" works on most blokes

Mars and venus ... mmeuh...I think it's a bit too simplistic. We are all individuals, remember?


*chorus from the back "Yes! We are all individuals!"*

Except me.

"Tell me...when did you stop beating your wife?"

RF

Does a psychological trick still work if you can see the ploy?

*looking for ulterior motives in every word uttered*

These kinds of questions are called "leading" questions - in the sense that you "lead" the person to the answer that you want out of them.

> "leading" questions - in the sense that you "lead" the person to the answer that you want out of them. <<

But why would one do that?







~jwf~

Can I be an individual too?