Is NLP that powerful?

[Naokohiro]

Youtube: Derren Brown NLP (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.)
Okay, so basically using subliminal messages in the way you talk can somehow greatly influence people. Even though in that small movie, it doesn't say it, but also the objects in the room and the colors also stimulated the subliminal messages.
What is your take on this?
Do you think that NLP can really have a large affect on the mind, or is that guy just a good actor?
Also, Derren Brown is a skilled hypnotist, so he might have been using his hypnotism talents for this as well...

[qwerty]

The a fly in horseradish the world is horseradish!

If you want to believe it then you will. This isn't a bad thing because it means your mind is open but I'm wondering why a guy who can have that strong of an effect on people isn't a billionaire? Or why he's not using that talent to do something more than a television show?

[Naokohiro]

The a fly in horseradish the world is horseradish!

If you want to believe it then you will. This isn't a bad thing because it means your mind is open but I'm wondering why a guy who can have that strong of an effect on people isn't a billionaire? Or why he's not using that talent to do something more than a television show?I really have no idea. He does all kinds of mind tricks. They are not all 100% accurate, but it's sort of believable. I don't know much about stuff like that being fraud or whatever.
Also, I don't expect that INTJ's will easily be swayed by mind tricks.

[Ijz]

The a fly in horseradish the world is horseradish!

If you want to believe it then you will. This isn't a bad thing because it means your mind is open but I'm wondering why a guy who can have that strong of an effect on people isn't a billionaire? Or why he's not using that talent to do something more than a television show?I really have no idea. He does all kinds of mind tricks. They are not all 100% accurate, but it's sort of believable. I don't know much about stuff like that being fraud or whatever.
Also, I don't expect that INTJ's will easily be swayed by mind tricks.

Nope, not swayed at all.

I've been reading up on Derren Brown and NLP for sometime now and I think I got some idea whats going on here. The explanation on the end is actually pretty accurate but it doesn't pain the whole picture. First of all the people he uses are perceptible for these kinds of things. The trick is to convey information directly to the subconscious mind while keeping the conscious mind off guard. In this case he touches the person and looks mysteriously. He also talks rather fast and constantly confronts the person with new ideas to keep the conscious mind occupied. It is actually a sophisticated form of "mis-direction" which is commonly used by magicians.

When he's got the attention of the conscious mind he can convey the necessary information. He does this by relating certain events. For instance by saying some letters a bit louder, by pausing at certain times or by touching the person, a pattern arises. The sub-conscious mind picks up on this and puzzles all the pieces together resulting in a nice red BMX. He also uses the environment to influence the person (did you see the red chairs?). He might even use body language to strengthen the idea but I'm not sure about that.

Although I had never seen this particular film, I have seen almost every Derren Brown film/episode around. And one thing is for sure. After watching sufficient material, a pattern arises ;)

To me........................................... he's a god

[blueback]

I have to admit that the very first time I saw the video, with no idea what it was supposed to be about, it worked on me. I won't say that I wanted a BMX bike, but I definitely wasn't suprised when one appeared. You could say that it seemed obvious a BMX bike would appear. I don't think it would have worked on me because I would have had a very distinct memory of picking the "thing I wanted most in the world" (a leather jacket? lame) so I would have referenced that memory instead of the conversation I just had. . .but the presence of the bike still wouldn't have suprised me for some reason.

Of course, mind tricks depend heavily on getting the right mind.

Magicians and hypnotists have well established methods of finding the people most suseptible to suggestion. One basic way is to bring 10-20 people up on stage and have them all close their eyes and hold their hands out in front of themselves. Then tell them to imagine they are holding a lead weight in their left hand and their right hand is attached to a balloon. Maybe 50% of them will start to move their hands but at least 10% will obviously be affected by it. Then you keep the 10% that are open to suggestion and tell the rest to sit down.

I suspect you have to pick your "victim" the same way when you are trying to do any form of mind control. Even the Jedi's mind trick doesn't work on everyone.

[Chainsaw Dundee]

It's the dude from Sean of the Dead!

Here is my analysis of it, for you non NLP-savvy folks.

I believe the NLP started when he asked him to recall the feeling he gets when he sees something he likes. He did whats called "anchoring", which in this case, was a slight touch on his left shoulder being linked to feelings of positivity and desire. Notice how he looked down and to the right. People normally look down when they are accessing remembered or synthesizing new emotions. Notice when he dropped in those subliminal subtleties later on, he was simultaneously repeating that movement of touching his arm, thus re-invoking that emotion. His other hand motions in sync with certain words also played a part in the NLP.

The part when the creepy music came in and he was doing the handshake, that was a classic NLP technique known as a "pattern interrupt", which is basically when you somehow throw an unexpected curveball into the psychological gears of your victim, or what ever you want to call him/her. That unexpected action, combined with the sudden rambling actually put Sean into a trance, thus making him far more susceptible to the anchoring and suggestions.

The object metaphors also projected a strong, yet subtle suggestion to his train of thought. Though in the beginning, he averted the guy from consciously expecting it to be a bicycle when he said "it may be a small present in a big box..the size of the box will not necessarily give you any clues".

There were probably some things I missed, but I think those were the major parts of what caused it to work.

It's not what you say, but how you say it.

[Tarrick]

To me........................................... he's a god

Ooookaay. If you say so.

[Ijz]

Ooookaay. If you say so.

Heh, don't take that too literally :)

Although I did watch nearly all of his videos so perhaps he managed to sneak some subliminal information in making me believe he's a god. In fact there is a DVD of Derren where he makes an introduction talk and he stands in a room in which the lighting makes it appear he's got angel wings. Its pretty hard to spot because he's keeping your consciousness occupied by his talk and wit. Your sub-consciousness however does pick it up. But then again, we are all free spirits and we all make up our own minds don't we?

[ScottH]

Fascinating stuff, if you ask me.

On the one hand, it seems as goofy as the hypnotists at the local carnival. On the other hand, there are many subtle ways to communicate with people, not all of which are readily apparent to our consciousness. One cannot readily defend or criticize information they don't know they're being given :-)