If Derren Brown isn't psychic, what is he then?

[Panadbois]

Amazed at what he did on his Infamous programme the other night. But, how can you read that kind of information from someone's body language? It wasn't any old random crap but quite specific.

I'm confused!

If it's about the psychic bit, apparently the TV programme was heavily cut. Someone wrote about it on here, in telly addicts I think. The people who wanted to contact the dead wrote bits of information about their loved ones and put it in a glass bowl. So the trick wasn't getting the information about the cat called Zelda from body language, but from a glass bowl in full view if everyone.

Oooooohhhhhh.

(((((( walks away feeling stupid and guillable)))))))))

Anyone claiming to be "psychic" is performing the same tricks as Derren Brown. The only difference is that he is honest about the fact it is a trick.

We saw Derren Brown perform once and we were asked to write down something about ourselves on a slip of paper and and some other stuff which I can't remember. All of these slips of paper the. went into a glass bowl on the stage. We wrote our cat's names down.

He singled us out after some sort of process of elimination and then correctly named our two cats. People were coming up to us afterwards and accusing us of being plants.

I'm in no doubt that it's all just very clever trickery and it starts with him doing something with the glass bowl but it's very entertaining.

he's a psychologist or so he says in his books and on documentaries.

He's a psychological illusionist.

Or a witch.

I forget which.

I don't think hejust reads body language but he also manipulates the environment to influence a person's responses.

I've seen him live a couple of times and it's fascinating. He makes no secret of the fact it's complicated illusion and misdirection but it's crazily believable.

I've been over to the telly addicts thread, which explains a lot, and has left me deflated!

Thing is, I have been known to do some psychic / mediumistic stuff and I'm no psychologist or mind reader. So where do I get the info from? (((( amature medium )))) waits for flaming which will no doubt come in quick succession which I shall ignore as I won't be able to answer your questions cos I don't know myself

Confirmation bias, probably. You remember the hits and minimise the misses.

He is a Mentalist, a type of magician. He performs tricks that make him look as though he is psychic or clairvoyant, but they are just tricks.

If you go back a few years and watch his Messiah series it might help. I remember watching it at the time and I've never forgotten how unsettled he looked before the final programme.

Even having watched that series I still held my breath watching Russian roulette live.

You are probably just intuitive.

I'm quite good at reading people. I can quite confidently predict things about them, their lives, their pasts, their interests etc, just from a brief chat with them. I'm not psychic. I'm just crap socially and have had years to hone the art of standing on the sidelines watching people. And people will tell you exactly who they are if you watch and listen carefully.

I can also weight out £1 in pennies or tuppences very quickly using just my hand- think seconds -and it's the same skill set. I used to work in a cash office and I know how £1 feels in my hand by weight. Same way as I know how people behave or know how to predict people from limited information about them. People are all remarkably similar and creatures of habit.

I'll give you an example. I recently went to a place where I knew nobody and I went to get a drink. The woman waiting at the bar in front of me I had never met before. I knew just by looking at her that she was a keen horse rider, almost certainly had her own horse, was in a serious relationship but not married and would order a white wine. She hadn't even spoken at that point. Turned out she did have two horses, was discussing marriage with her long term dp and drank dry white wine. Her hair, clothes, posture, the way she looked around the room etc all gave away who she was.

I also am very, very good at 'predict the name'. In public places I play guess the child's game with dh. If I have seen the parents and the children interact, I can usually guess close to the name or sort of name they have. If I know the sibling's names, my hit rate is unsurpassed.

He started out as a "straight" magician and most of his effects are still done with traditional conjuring techniques. But he has done a lot of work on cold reading and basic human psychology so he grafts that on top as an extra layer and it creates the impression that everything he does is done by mind-reading or psychological trickery.

His books are really interesting, by the way -- well-written, funny and informative.

We saw that live

The bit where people put the paper in the bowl is during the interval - I'm guessing his helpers watch which seats people are in, google the name of whoever booked the tickets then look up what they can online. Those where they can find info are the ones 'chosen' to talk about

I really don't think it's complicated, however he does it.

We went to see a Derren brown thing filmed and the programme we saw on telly was so different to what actually happened we were quite disappointed actually. Had previously thought he was brilliant but he just used editing for that - not impressive at all

Another time we saw him live he was doing another 'bits of paper in a bowl thing' - he very obviously dropped a piece of paper he was going to plant which ruined the whole thing

Confirmation bias is an amazing thing. So is cold reading. I don't see how anyone can ever believe in any paranormal stuff at all after watching a Derren a brown or reading any of his books.

Interesting about he weighing £1 coins thing. I bake for a living, and although I use scales and timer just in case, I don't actually need to- I am always already opening the oven door as the timer goes off.

On the TV programme before that bit it flashed up on screen that the people weren't stooges and no research had been done on them.

By research, I guess that means googling. But I think it was a bit cheeky not showing people put information in the glass bowl, it made the trick look far more impressive than it was.

That said, I've seen him live a couple of times and he is a wonderful showman. Once I waited by the stage door to get his autograph and a load of St John's Ambulance people went in. We waited for ages and he came out looking white as a sheet and said he'd had a massive nosebleed, so he would sign autographs etc but could we please make it quick. Clearly putting on the show requires a huge effort. I was so impressed that despite not being well he still came out, he could have easily had us sent away.

He used to do table magic and card tricks around the restaurants where we live. He was at uni with dh back in the days when he was Darren.

Snowy you are like Sherlock Holmes!

showy I would love to meet someone like you, it is fascinating how you do that!

I've read loads on cold reading, and I think I'd be aware of what was going on. But if Derren Brown told me to look deep into his eyes, I'd believe anything he said...

I'd love to see him live.

We had tickets to see him live, but we bought them so far in advance we forgot to go! You'd think he could have sent us a psychic message or something...........

I think he is very well read on magic, psychology, nlp, hypnotherapy... He is also a clever guy and a very good showman with a whole team around him. I have no idea how he does it but I don't think it's psychic.

Like Showy, I can often predict what is going to happen or who people are. I can't explain it really but it's just like a 'knowing'. I often say things and friends just scoff but more often than not I am right. I don't wear a watch but can pretty accurately say what the time is at any given point.

Confirmation bias is your friend.