Malls are designed to confuse people, and confusion puts you in a state of trance, making you much more suggestible than the usual. In this case Derren Brown is using EMBEDDED COMMANDS and ANALOG MARKING to suggest what shoppers should do. He raises his voice to mark the embedded commands. While he's doing that, he's also bypassing people's critical thinking: he's talking about very special offers and exciting opportunities that won't last long - that's the Scarcity Principle. Here is a transcript of the whole speech:
"We hope that your shopping experience is an UPLIFTING ARM, and I'd like to bring to your PAY ATTENTION some very special offers today. Details of our special offers can be found HANDILY by the ELEVATORS, so why not come RIGHT ARM UP and CEASE for yourselves. Our special offers will only be available for a short period of time, so all these customers wishing to REACH UP and GRAB this exciting opportunity should do so NOW."You can see the embedded commands in CAPS. In the last sentence he's not only telling the shoppers what to do, but he's also telling them how to do it. This is essential for the suggestion to work.
Freezing Somebody Skit
In this video, Derren Brown is using ANCHORING and EMBEDDED COMMANDS. Firstly, he puts the woman in a trance state by doing a handshake induction. Then he brings her upstairs and places her in the spot where the stopping should occur later. Now this is the part where he deepens her trance state while suggesting the hidden STOP commands into her head. Before he does that, though, he frames the experience by saying "I know this is a little bit odd." which bypasses her critical factor. Here's a transcript of what he's saying next:
"It's just interesting, as you just LOOK AT ME NOW, and just thinking about, LOOKING OUT of that window, you see NOW IT STOPS the end of November, there's only 29 STOPPING days left for Christmas, and just LOOKING OUT and just SEEING all those people, and just when you DO THIS, and you're doing the Christmas STOPPING, and you're trying to get all the gifts together, and gifts for kids, and gifts for the stocking fillers, and the STOPPING... what is it... the Christmas tree, and things to put on a tree, all of that... just this sort of trance state that just starts to put you in, and you just start to walk around, and just trying to get all that done, and just how, in the back of your mind, how you just... WANT TO PUT THE BREAKS ON, and that's really interesting thing, how that trance state can just start to set in now, it's a very interesting thing and that's what we gonna look at today."The Embedded Commands are in CAPS, and the way Derren marks them is by pressing the woman's index finger every time he says a suggestion word. What he's doing here is associating the spot in front of the window with the act of her stopping. The last couple of things he says are setting the framework, again, letting her know that it's going to be her state of trance that is needed. Another thing to remember is the position of his palm, which anchors the whole trance state for later usage. After he finishes the speech, he walks her to the corner, counting the steps in mind. Then it's just a matter of listening and counting her steps to know when she's gonna reach her stopping spot again. Next, he tells the woman: "just TRY walk all the way across the room, so don't STOP THIS TIME JUST RIGHT AWAY ACROSS, you're REALLY GONNA FEEL of the, the space of the room." The word "TRY" presupposes failure. That's a suggestion there that she wouldn't be able to finish the task. Then he's using negation to suggest that she should stop right away across. Remember, the brain doesn't process DONT's before actually examining the DO's consciously. If your critical thinking is bypassed, there's no way to examine that. Finally, he suggests that she's gonna FEEL when to stop, which implies that there's more to her task. What follows is, of course, she starts walking and she stops at the same place where she did before. Now, Derren can't be sure for how long she's going to be still, so he keeps stacking more suggestions while asking her why she stopped: Now I said don't... STOP THIS TIME, so what's happened there? Then he walks in front of the woman with his palm facing towards her. This is the anchor that triggered her trance state, again, to make her even more stuck.
Russian Scam Skit
Derren asks the guy a visual question to bypass his logical thinking. Next he's mirroring his body language and posture to gain rapport. Derren then takes a step away from the subject to test if he could already lead him. The guy follows Derren, which proves that Rapport has been achieved. Derren is now ready to put the Consistency Principle in action by saying "You don't mind me asking you, do you? You're happy to give that to me". Next, Derren does a handshake induction by simply interrupting and altering the handshake. He anchors the state with the word "Cheers". The guy's attention is now fully focused on his hand and he is completely confused and suggestible in this brief period of time. Next, Derren hands him the bottle. This is a perfect application of the Reciprocity Principle: you give me something, I have to give you something back. Handing the bottle is also gonna work as an anchor later. The subject is now completely comfortable giving away his valuable stuff. What happens later when he asks for his stuff back is that Derren gives him the bottle once again and says Cheers. This, of course, works like magic, because now the guy is back to his confused suggestible state. Cheers!
Paper Rock Scissors Skit
Now, in the first part of the video, Derren uses a delay technique and I'm not sure whether he actually tries to influence the subject yet. Here are a few speculative thoughts: when Derren explains how the game works, he goes "One, two, three" and makes the scissors sign with his hand. That perhaps influences the guy to make this choice in the first round. Before the second round, Derren says "my STONE blunts the scissors", perhaps suggesting that the subject picks that next by accentuating on the word "stone". Only later in the video, when Derren turns his back, it becomes apparent that he's leading the guy, by keeping his eyes focused somewhere else, while blatantly letting his peripheral vision see what he has to choose next - watch his hand and you'll see what I mean.
Color Blind Skit
Of course, this could all be scripted and the woman may be a stooge. What's important is that Derren is using essential techniques that are useful to know. The first part of what Derren does is already explained in the video. What happens after he anchors the certain and uncertain state is that he frames what the woman is going to experience next, by giving her the short speech about change and how little things can affect people. Surely we'll find out what these changes are, he says. That suggests that she's going to co-operate, more or less, to make this thing work. Let's not forget that while she's being told all this, she's in a confused suggestible state.
Guessing A Word Skit
When Derren starts talking to Joe, the first thing he does is setting the context by explaining he's gonna try a mind reading experiment. Next Derren's using Analogies and Metaphors as hints as to what the word is gonna be. He also limits Joe's choices by setting the scene in the past when he was 6 year old. Most kids have ridden a tricycle at one point of their childhood. Joe's brain is expected to connect the dots and associate the hints (three, cogs, cycling, round and round, over and over again) with his past.
Red Bike Skit
This is most probably scripted, as you can tell from the different camera angles, and the sole fact that the subject is a professional actor, and also a friend of Derren. Nevertheless, the techniques he uses are legit. The atmosphere in the room is obviously set to red colors and round cycling objects. That's a huge influence on itself. The first thing Derren does (not seen in this clip) is to induce a state of strong desire in his subject. He does that by questioning Simon about the feeling he gets when this desire is triggered in him. People can't describe feelings unless they experience them. Derren then asks Simon to amplify this feeling and once he's done that, Derren anchors the state by tapping Simon's shoulder.
What follows is a handshake induction. Next, Derren uses Analog Marking to further create an image of a bike - the key words are pointed out in the video. Every time Derren talks about feelings of excitement, and every time he hints to a red bike, he fires the anchor again by tapping Simon's shoulder. That way both things are associated to each other. The good thing about Derren's anecdote here is that what he's saying is also a great analogy of what he wants Simon to do. When people hear anecdotes about things happening, they can't help themselves but experience the same things in order to relate to the story. So when Derren is talking about a feeling so strong that it can replace the actual memory, Simon is subconsciously responding to that. Note that he's in trance and he has no idea what Derren wants to do with him so he's not suspicious and can't really understand that he's being had. In the end of the bit (not seen in this clip) it turns out that what Simon originally wanted was a leather jacket. He had written his wish on a note a week before this was shot. Simon couldn't believe he ever wrote that, as he was fully convinced that what he had always wanted was a red BMX.
Trains... of Thought Skit
Derren is using EMBEDDED Commands to suggest that they stop thinking about their stop. It's a witty wordplay: What STOP. THINKING ABOUT IT NOW. While he's saying that, he waves his hand over subject's face to anchor their state. As soon as he notices a change of state, he fires off the anchor which leaves them confused again. Here's a way to make your friends forget their phone number. Just ask them what it is and say you will dial it to verify. Then enter a fake number and say: "your phone doesn't ring, you forget your own number" and anchor it with a finger snap. And say again: "you forget your own number", anchoring again. Then ask for their phone number again, firing the anchor again. You will have guaranteed laugh.
Dog Track Skit
This has a lot to do with PERSONAL POWER, confusion, and EMBEDDED COMMANDS. Derren chose a guy who's confident. He's calm and steady, and he's not afraid to maintain eye contact for more than a few seconds. So when the man tells the cashier he's holding the winning ticket, she is automatically confused. Cashiers are usually passive types, so when a more powerful individual confronts them confidently, they are going to question their own credibility. The woman is now in a trance - she's not sure who's right for a second. Just as she made up her mind and decided to confront the man, Derren interrupted her thinking pattern by slapping the window. That's called a PATTERN INTERRUPT. Now she's even more confused and her critical factor is temporarily bypassed. Derren then says "This is the dog YOU'RE LOOKING 4" and confirms her "mistake" by saying "You may have misread it". Since dog number 4 was the real winner, the first sentence implies that the ticket has a bet on it. Similar techniques are applied to the second case. In the end Derren assures the woman with a commanding tone of voice that the ticket is in fact the winning one: That's why we came to this WINdow. When confused, a person would be so willing to get out of that state, that she would take anything for an answer.
