Secrets of the mind and free will -- revealed by magic tricks | Alice Pailhès

Translator: Alba Méndez Reviewer: Xosé María Moreno

Alright.

Ben.

I'd like to start with a small imagination exercise.

Gustaríame comezar cun exercicio de imaxinación.

Imagine you're sitting at this table, facing me right now.

Imaxina que estas aquí sentado fronte a min.

Now, I'm going to ask you to push one of these cards towards me.

Agora, pídoche que me deas unha carta.

So please imagine yourself pushing one of these cards towards me.

Así que, imaxínate dándome unha carta.

OK, so take the number matching the card you pushed

Colle o número que coincide coa carta que elixiches

and remember it -- it's important for later.

e lémbrao, será importante despois.

Now, I'm going to flip through this deck of cards

Agora vou follear esta baralla

and ask you to choose a card that you will see in the deck.

e pedirche que escollas unha.

Are you ready?

Estás listo?

Alright, now that you have your card in mind,

Agora que tes a carta na mente

add the value of your card to your previous number.

engádelle ao valor desa carta o número da anterior.

For example, if you chose the six of clubs, add six,

Por exemplo, se elixiches o 6 de trevos, súmalle 6

if it's an ace, add one,

se é un ás, súmalle un.

and take 11 for any picture cards.

E agora, réstalle 11.

Have you got your final number in mind?

Xa tes o resultado?

Perfect.

Ben,

So please take the item matching your final number.

escolle o produto que concorda co teu número.

Now, here's what's funny.

Agora vén a graza.

There are going to be a lot of people watching this video,

Haberá moita xente vendo este vídeo

and you all have different quirks with different preferences.

e todos tedes singularidades con diferentes preferencias.

And yet,

Porén,

the vast majority of you right now is thinking about a kiwi,

a maioría de vós está pensando nun kiwi

or, if you're left-handed, probably a corn on the cob.

ou, de ser manichos, nunha mazaroca.

Yes, I just tricked you.

Si, enganeivos.

And I used your psychological biases

Usei o voso nesgo psicolóxico

to influence both of your decisions.

para influenciar as vosas decisións.

I work in the MAGIC Lab

Traballo no MAGIC Lab,

at Goldsmiths University of London,

en Goldsmiths, University of London

which is not only a place where we make assistants vanish,

que non é só un lugar onde facemos desaparecer persoas

but where we use magic tricks to study psychological processes,

senón que usamos trucos de maxia para estudar os procesos psicolóxicos

such as attention, perception, deception and free will.

como a atención, percepción, engano e libre albedrío.

I am fascinated by the subtle factors that influence our choices,

Fascínanme os factores sutís que influencian as nosas escollas

and how understanding our flaws can give us back some power.

e como entendermos os nosos erros nos pode dar poder.

Magic tricks provide a powerful tool to investigate this,

Os trucos de maxia son un medio crucial para investigalos

and our experiments have shown that.

e os nosos experimentos así o demostran.

First, we humans tend to go for the easiest decisions.

Primeiro, os humanos tendemos a escoller decisións fáciles.

With the card trick I did,

Co truco que fixen

most people tend to choose the card that I want them to choose,

moita xente escolleu a carta que eu quixen que escollesen

because I'm presenting it a bit longer than the others.

porque a ensino máis tempo que as demais.

And it becomes the easiest option for your brain.

Esta é a opción máis fácil para o cerebro.

In our case,

A maioría de vós,

the majority of you probably chose the ten of hearts, right?

And a lot of other tricks are based on this principle

probablemente, escolleu o dez de corazóns, non si?

Moitos outros trucos se basean neste principio de:

of easy decision.

fácil decisión

Because magicians are very aware

Os magos son moi conscientes

that our brain, not to say "we," tends to be a bit lazy.

de que o noso cerebro, ou nós, tende a ser un pouco lacazán.

The exercise we did with the four cards is also a good example of this.

O exercicio que fixen coas 4 cartas tamén é un bo exemplo disto.

It's based on another trick I investigated,

Está baseado noutro truco que investiguei

where I ask participants to physically push

onde lles pedía aos participantes

one of the four cards towards me.

que me desen unha das cartas.

We found that around 60 percent of people choose the third card from the left,

Descubrimos que cerca do 60 % das persoas escollía a terceira carta da esquerda

and if they were left-handed,

e se eran manichos,

they typically chose the second card from the left.

a segunda carta da esquerda

This is based on the easy-option principle again,

Isto basease, de novo, no principio da opción fácil

because the card that most people choose

porque a carta que escolle a maioría

is the most easy to reach by the dominant hand.

é a que está máis preto da man dominante.

So, I knew that most of you

Así, souben que a maioría de vós

would end up with one of these two numbers,

escollería un deses dous números

and this allowed me to estimate

e isto permitiume estimar

the two most probable things you would end up with.

que dúas opcións máis probábeis escolleriades.

But this is not just about magic.

Pero non só se trata de maxia.

It's also about how we are influenced in our day-to-day lives.

Tamén se trata de como somos influenciados na nosa vida diaria.

You know, stories and politicians

Como sabedes, as historias e os políticos

play with your mind as well, all the time,

tamén xogan coas vosas mentes

because they also know that we tend to choose and like

porque tamén saben que tendemos a escoller

e que nos gusta o que é fácil de coller ou ver.

what's easily grabbed or seen.

For instance, when you are in a store,

Por exemplo, estás nunha tenda

choosing a bottle of wine or a bag of rice

e buscas viño ou arroz

among many lined up on vertical shelves,

nos andeis colocados verticalmente

your first instinct is to look

o teu primeiro instinto

é mirar só os produtos que están fronte os teus ollos, non?

only at the ones that are on the shelves in front of your eyes, right?

It's easier and requires less effort.

É máis doado e require menos esforzos.

Did you know that many brands actually negotiate

Sabías que moitas marcas negocian

to be at eye-level on grocery store shelves

para estar a nivel da vista nos andeis,

because of that easy-option principle?

por ese principio de opción fácil?

And this is a tactic that many politicians use.

E esta é unha táctica que usan moitos políticos.

When information is right in front of our eyes on social media,

Cando a información está fronte os teus ollos nas RR. SS.

it's easily accessible,

é máis fácil acceder a ela

and it absolutely affects our voting behaviors.

e inflúe na nosa conduta de voto.

Political outcomes, such as the Brexit referendum

Os resultados políticos, como o referendo sobre o Brexit

or the American election in 2016,

ou as eleccións presidenciais dos EUA en 2016

were heavily influenced by targeted advertising,

foron moi influenciadas con anuncios personalizados

making some information,

que fan que algunha información,

which was not necessarily truthful,

que non é necesariamente veraz

disproportionately easily accessible and visible to specific audiences

sexa moito máis accesible e visible a certas audiencias

to influence their votes.

para influír no seu voto.

But here is the good news.

Pero aquí veñen as boas noticias.

Some simple factors have an impact on how influencible we are.

Algúns factores teñen un impacto no influenciable que somos.

In an experiment using the trick with the four cards,

Nun experimento, onde usamos o truco das 4 cartas

we found that explicitly informing participants

achamos que dicirlles aos participantes

that they have a choice

que tiñan elección

can actually lead them to make more deliberate decisions,

podía levalos a tomar decisións máis deliberadas

as opposed to behaving in the way we are trying to make them behave.

en vez comportárense da maneira que tentamos que se comporten.

In other words,

Noutras palabras

I either simply asked participants to push one of the cards,

eu só lles pedía aos participantes que collesen unha carta

or I said,

ou dicía:

"Choose a card, and then push it."

''Escolle unha carta e cóllea''.

And when asked to choose a card,

Cando pedimos que escollese unha carta

the percentage of people who impulsively chose the most reachable one

a porcentaxe de xente que, impulsivamente, escolleu a que tiña máis preto

dropped from 60 to 35 percent.

caeu do 60 % ao 35 %.

So, it seems that when we are reminded that we have control over our choices,

Asemella que cando se nos recorda que temos o control das nosas escollas

and know that our actions matter,

e sabemos que os nosos actos importan

as opposed to acting without thinking,

en vez de actuar sen pensar

we can actually make more personal decisions

podemos tomar decisións máis persoais

and are less easily influenced.

e ser menos influenciables.

Let me show you another trick,

Vouvos mostrar outro truco

invented by a British mentalist Derren Brown,

que inventou o mentalista británico Darren Brown

to make my point.

para explicarme.

This one uses what's called "priming" in psychology.

Este usa o ''primado'' da psicoloxía.

Priming happens when exposure to something

O primado acontece cando a exposición a algo

influences your thoughts and behavior later on,

influencia, máis tarde, o teu pensamento e conduta

without you being aware

sen te dares de conta

that the first thing is guiding you to a certain extent.

de que a primeira cousa nos guía ata certo punto.

The trick is usually done in a more intimate context,

O truco, faríase nun contexto máis íntimo

where I would be directly facing you,

onde estariamos fronte a fronte.

but we'll give it a try together.

pero imos intentalo.

Just focus on me as best as you can,

Céntrate en min todo o que poidas

but do not let me influence your choice.

pero non deixes que inflúa na túa escolla.

I'm going to try and mentally transmit the identity of a playing card

Vouno intentar e transmitir mentalmente a carta

I'm thinking of.

na que estou pensando.

Are you ready?

Preparado?

OK, so first make the color bright and vivid.

Ben, primeiro fai que a cor sexa brillante e vívida.

Imagine a screen in your mind,

Imaxina a pantalla na túa mente

and on the screen, the little numbers, low down in the corners of the cards,

e nela, números pequenos nas esquinas das cartas

and then in the top of the cards.

e despois na parte superior

And then the things in the middle,

E logo os obxectos no medio,

in the center of the cards,

no centro da carta

the boom, boom, boom, the suits.

o bum, bum, bum, os paus.

Did you get it?

Entendíchelo?

OK, so I'm going to bet that the majority of you

Aposto a que a maioría de vós

thought about the three of diamonds,

pensou no 3 de diamantes

but chose another card, right?

pero escolleu outra carta, non?

As you might have noticed,

Como supoño que deducistes

I heavily tried to influence your choice with my gestures

Intentei influenciarvos cos meus xestos

while giving you the instructions.

mentres vos daba as instrucións.

By studying this trick,

Estudando este truco

we found that around 18 percent of people choose the three of diamonds,

descubrimos que arredor do 18 % das persoas escolle o 3 de diamantes

and nearly 40 percent choose the three of any suit,

e preto do 40 % o 3 de calquera pau

while being completely oblivious of the fact I was manipulating them.

mentres esquecían que os manipulaba.

So what happened here?

Que pasou aquí?

Because you were aware

Porque erades conscientes

that I was trying to influence your choice,

de que intentaba intervir na vosa escolla

you probably paid more attention to what I was doing.

pode que prestasedes máis atención ao que estaba facendo.

And this led the majority of you to choose more consciously

Isto levouvos a escoller máis conscientemente

than our participants who have no information

do que os outros participantes que non tiñan información

about who I am, what I'm studying

sobre quen son, que estudo

or what I'm trying to do with their minds.

ou que intento facer coas súas mentes.

So the thing is,

A cousa é

in all of our experiments,

en todos os nosos experimentos

we managed to heavily influence people's card choices,

conseguimos influenciar as escollas da xente

while they report feeling completely free and in control of their choice.

mentres se sentían completamente libres e en control da súa escolla.

And this lack of self-awareness

E esta perda de conciencia

makes politicians, companies

fai que a influencia de políticos, empresas e outras persoas

and other people's influence all the more powerful,

sexa aínda máis poderosa

because we might think we are in control of our choice and beliefs

porque pensamos que temos o control das nosas escollas e crenzas

when we are not.

cando non é así.

Politically or in our consumer behaviors,

Na política ou na nosa conduta de consumo

if we don't pay attention,

se non prestamos atención

misleading content or showy ads can just trick our mind.

o contido enganoso ou os anuncios vistosos poden enganar a nosa mente.

What if, in our day-to-day lives,

Que pasa se, na nosa vida diaria

we would stop more often and consciously choose

nos parásemos máis a miúdo para escoller conscientemente

before acting on this impulsive, reactive beast inside of us?

antes de actuar por ese impulso que xorde dentro de nós?

We can actually act more consciously

Podemos ser máis conscientes

if we keep in mind

se lembramos

that we have the capacity to be influenced.

que temos a capacidade se sermos influenciábeis

Thank you.

Grazas.