THE PSYCHOLOGY OF

MAGIC

MAGIC WARM-UP

What do you know about magic? How do magicians perform

magic?

How do you feel when watching magic?

Do you believe in magic?

MAGIC WARM-UP

Apollo Robbins: Magic of a Pick Pocket

After watching the example, do you believe that the magician has

some sort of special powers? Why?

TIPS FROM A PICKPOCKET

How does Apollo use attention to create the sense of magic?

How does this magic show help us better understand the world

around us?

LEARNING OUTCOME

I can explain how understanding about Perception and Attention

can change the way I see the world and human behavior.

ATTENTION

Attention is the process of selectively concentrating on a discrete

aspect of information while ignoring other objects.

Attention Test

ATTENTION & GORILLAS

Aim: To investigate the limits of attention.

Method: Had college students watch a video where they counted the

times a group of students passed a basketball. As this happened, a person

dressed in a gorilla suit walked into the middle of the screen. Researchers

then asked how many people noticed the gorilla.

Findings: Over half of all participants did not see the gorilla enter the

screen.

Conclusion: We have attention spotlights that prevent us from seeing

everything in our surroundings.

ATTENTION SPOTLIGHT

We only have a limited amount of attention. When

things occur outside of our focus, we cannot pay

attention to them.

CHANGE BLINDNESS

The tendency people have to miss changes in their immediate

visual environment.

Would You Fall For That? Change Blindness

COCKTAIL PARTY EFFECT

The ability for people to track one conversation in the face of

other nearby conversations.

• Example: Talking during break/lunch in the commons

DRIVING & CELL PHONES:

JUST ET AL (2008)

Aim: To determine how cell phones impact humans ability to

drive.

Method: – Used fMRI to measure brain activity while driving

alone and while driving and making a hands free cell phone call.

Finding: Driving while talking on a phone led to a 37% decrease

in activity in the parietal lobe (responsible for spatial awareness).

Conclusion: We have a limited amount of attention and a

weakness when trying to perform two complex tasks.

WHAT IS PERCEPTION?

The process by which the brain organizes and interprets

sensory information.

• Takes in sensory information from our outside world and gives it

meaning.

THE AMES ROOM

THE AMES ROOM ILLUSION

The Ames Room Explained

TYPES OF PROCESSING

Bottom-Up Processing

Top-Down Processing

BOTTOM-UP PROCESSING

Data Driven Processing

Processing incoming individual pieces of sensory

data and constructing them into a whole. (Parts

into Whole)

Starting point of perception.

BOTTOM-UP PROCESSING

EXAMPLE

BOTTOM-UP PERCEPTION

Lets break it down…

• Thousands of Yellow and Brown Lego Bricks

• Blades of grass

• Fences

• A crowd of people in the background

• Start with a pile of legos at the Bottom (Individual

elements) and you must build them Up (Whole)

TOP-DOWN PROCESSING

Knowledge/Context/Hypothesis Driven Processing

• Processing based on our knowledge about the world.

• We perceive what we are expecting to perceive

TURNBULL (1961)

KENGE DISCUSSION

QUESTIONS

What happened when Kenge left the forest with Dr. Turnbull?

What type of processing (Bottom-Up or Top-Down) is

responsible for this situation?

How does this example better help us understand our perception

of magic?

How can this lesson apply to areas of our lives outside of visual

perception?

BRAIN MAGIC

Keith Berry: Brain Magic

Does this magic show violate our top-down or bottom-up

perception?

When we cannot explain a magic trick, what happens?

How is this magic show similar to what happened to Kenge?

PERCEPTION MAIN IDEA

We use our understanding about how the world works to help us

make sense of what we are seeing.

If something appears to be impossible, we are

surprised…MAGIC!

10 WAYS TO

TRICK THE BRAIN

1. List the tricks (1-10, 1 being most important), from most to least

important to you as an aspiring Magician.

2. For each item on the list, write a short summary of what lesson we can

learn about the way our minds work. Be sure to include any key terms

from the reading in your summary.

3. Be prepared to explain your choices for your Top 3 most important

lessons.

PENN & TELLER: FOOL US

EXAMPLES

Example 1: Crazy Card Tricks

Example 2: Dinner Plates

PSYCHOLOGY MAGIC SHOW

Step 1: Choose, plan, learn, and practice your magic trick.

Step 2: Bring all of the supplies you will need to perform your trick to class.

Step 3: Perform your trick for your table group. While you perform, another

person in your group will record your trick on your group’s assigned I-Pad.

Step 4: Vote on the person with the best magic trick in your group. They will

become your group’s representative in the “Fool Bonica” Competition.

Step 5: Complete your Psychology Magic Show Analysis Form.

P SYCHOL OGY M AGIC SHOW

RU BRIC

4/Exceeds 3/Meets 2/Nearly Meets 1/Beginning

Trick Performance I performed a trick that

was unique and showed

effort in preparation.

I performed a trick that

showed effort in

preparation.

I performed a simple

trick that showed

limited effort in

preparation.

I performed a very

simple trick that

showed little effort in

preparation.

Understanding of

Attention &

Perception

I provided a detailed

explanation of how my

trick relates to attention

and perception and

how I used these to

perform my trick.

I provided a clear

explanation of how my

trick relates to attention

and perception and

how I used these to

perform my trick.

I provided an limited

explanation of how my

trick relates to attention

and perception and

how I used these to

perform my trick.

I provided a unclear

explanation of how my

trick relates to attention

and perception and

how I used these to

perform my trick.

Connections to

Psychology

I made detailed

connections to

psychological concepts

from class as I

explained my trick

I made specific

connections to

psychological concepts

from class as I

explained my trick

I made limited

connections to

psychological concepts

from class as I

explained my trick

I made unclear

connections to

psychological concepts

from class as I

explained my trick

IT’S YOUR TURN

You are going to explore Youtube to find a magic trick to learn

and master. As you do this, you should be able to explain how you

manage to manipulate attention & perception to create the illusion of

magic.