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Hi all,

Does anyone use hypnotic anchoring within their magical routines?

I've found it to be a fairly sure-fire way to get the reactions that you want, even with the most simple of effects. If you can build up the suspense with a keyword, combined with a hand movement, and then use the two anchors when you come to the revelation, the strength of the most standard effect can be powerfully multiplied.
For instance, (and as a generic example) you've switched the card they're holding, before the reveal I'd go into a spiel about the mystery surrounding magic, coupled with a turning movement with my wrist every time I say a certain word, this wrist action mimicks their action in turning over the card, so that when they turn over the card I say the word and the double-anchor takes a moment to set in. The reactions, I find, are so much better than if you just say "Have a look at the card again"

Any thoughts?

Yeah, what exactly are you anchoring to, as from your explanation I can't see why it should particularily increase their reaction?

i only occassionally use this in magic, as i usual do quite short tricks/routines for people. for anything extended i would sometimes use it for a similar kind of idea, whenever you get the impression they're impressed by something, go for the anchor.
alternativly use it in everyday cercumstances, i do it to put people in good moods usually, it makes me happier! although i usually feel guilty then have to explain to the person what anchoring is, then it kinda loses the effect

An anchor should work even if you know about it.

I think people are getting much too hung up on the idea of "hypnotism" and "anchoring".

Hypnosis in its clinical sense is a skill for which therapists train. It is not a magic trick. Nobody can be hypnotised against their will and nobody can be made to do anything under hypnosis that they don't wnat to do.

Professional hypnotism acts are a mixture of stooges and very careful pre show selection of spectators who show an inclination to be good subjects for hypnosis.

Anchoring got some air time in Derren Browns "Heist", however he clearly said that he was not using hypnotism. He had access to his participants over a long period and on an almost one to one basis and anchored ideas through a series of prompts including colours and sounds. As part of a lavish production which took place over a period of time it was an appropriate tool. As a way of influencing an audience for a one off performance I cannot see how it could be applied, how it could work or how it would be appropriate.

Practiced by an completely untrained person it simply would not work.

What you need is not hypnotism or NLP, you need presentation. The trick is part of the performance, the presentation is what makes the performance of the trick work. Looking to hypnotism as a way of misdirecting people is a little like a layman trying to use Astro Physics to measure a length of string!

Forget hypnotism and concentrate on good presentation and misdirection. You will have a lot more success!

Johnny,

as someone who is trained and qualified in NLP I agree with a lot of what you say. However it is possible to use anchoring in a one off situation like this, I personally have never done so as I find the magic is strong enough and gets good enough reactions without the need to try to bring in such methods. Why do a weak effect and then have to use anchors to increase reaction? However if you understand how to use anchors and enjoy experimenting I don't see why you shouldn't have a go. However from the first post I couldn't see exactly how his use of anchors as described would help in any way

I think the whole idea of using anchors in performance stems from a desire to do real magic - at least that's how it is with me
I think the positive side to the concept of anchors is that it makes us think seriously about presentation - what we say, when we say it, our body language etc. (ie. - what Johnny Wizz said)
A helpful book for me was "Sleight of Mind" by Ian Gordon Harling and Martin Nyrup. It deas with NLP, hypnosis etc. as well as covers the concept of anchoring - but in a non-hyped way. It shows how these things can be useful, but takes it with a pinch of salt...

I think the positive side to the concept of anchors is that it makes us think seriously about presentation - what we say, when we say it, our body language etc. (ie. - what Johnny Wizz said)

Did he?

Derren Brown talks about using anchors in one of his works, but I can't remember which at the moment. I think he uses the example of touching the spec's elbow whenever you get a good response so that you can make them recall their response to enhance future resonses. Clever stuff. Some people will respond to anchors very nicely and there's a whole art to setting and triggering them. Sleight of Mindhas a very good section on them, including building multi-modal ones and firing off sequences for greater effect.

In psychology they call this classical conditioning. NLP calls it anchoring but in the mainstream "anchoring" means something different. For instance, when a bloke weighs up whether a second hand car is worth the money he'll anchor to some aspect of it, like the mileage, and decide based on that rather than taking all factors into account. It can blind a mark into falling fro a scam and quite a lot of cons exploit that little logical fallacy.

I keep threatening to write something about logical fallacies and how they might be applied to magic and mentalism. Perhaps once the rush is over and I've had the breakdown I've been promising myself...

Happy Toad wrote:An anchor should work even if you know about it.

Indeed. Music or odour are especialy powerful for triggering states. The smell of a certain disinfectant puts me right back in reception class at primary school.

Ok my generic example was quite unfathomable and poorly thought-out I agree, however I do think that it is possible to create such anchors off-the-cuff and I do believe that they can enhance the reactions to an effect.
No matter how perfect and flawless your presentation is, if you can use an anchor to further elevate this reaction even slightly then I don't see why you shouldn't.
Although Derren Brown used a prolonged ancoring technique in The Heist, he states in Pure Effect that he believes that these anchors can be created instantly, where he talks of anchoring a reaction to spoon-bending in a restaurant queue by touching the person's shoulder and saying "Woah!", and then anchoring her again later when she didn't react as well as before with the same comment and shoulder touch, to see her go back to the state she'd been in in the queue.
He also mentions using a hand action of spreading cards out and the word 'wonder' as an anchor in his presentation of OOTW, which he says improves the reactions ten-fold.
I do agree that complex hypnotic techniques have to be studied intensely and I don't claim to have any real knowlege of the finer points of the field, but with a simple achor (like hearing a song and it reminding you of where you were when you last heard that song etc....) the effect on the audience can be slightly enhanced, and this can only be a good thing.

Shouldn't we always be looking for new and novel ways of approaching and presenting our magic?

Ok my generic example was quite unfathomable and poorly thought-out I agree, however I do think that it is possible to create such anchors off-the-cuff and I do believe that they can enhance the reactions to an effect.
No matter how perfect and flawless your presentation is, if you can use an anchor to further elevate this reaction even slightly then I don't see why you shouldn't.
Although Derren Brown used a prolonged ancoring technique in The Heist, he states in Pure Effect that he believes that these anchors can be created instantly, where he talks of anchoring a reaction to spoon-bending in a restaurant queue by touching the person's shoulder and saying "Woah!", and then anchoring her again later when she didn't react as well as before with the same comment and shoulder touch, to see her go back to the state she'd been in in the queue.
He also mentions using a hand action of spreading cards out and the word 'wonder' as an anchor in his presentation of OOTW, which he says improves the reactions ten-fold.
I do agree that complex hypnotic techniques have to be studied intensely and I don't claim to have any real knowlege of the finer points of the field, but with a simple achor (like hearing a song and it reminding you of where you were when you last heard that song etc....) the effect on the audience can be slightly enhanced, and this can only be a good thing.

Shouldn't we always be looking for new and novel ways of approaching and presenting our magic?

Happy Toad wrote:Did he?

well not exactly. What I should've said was that it brings us back to persenting something properly - which is what Johnny was saying (I hope)

Ok my generic example was quite unfathomable and poorly thought-out I agree, however I do think that it is possible to create such anchors off-the-cuff and I do believe that they can enhance the reactions to an effect.

It is definitely possible. You do need to first get them to react strongly before it's any use though as you need to set the anchor as they are producing the desired emotion. If you can generate the strong reaction the first time without help from an anchor perhaps this makes the use of an anchor unnecessary unless you plan on performing weaker effects from then on.
Still it might be worth playing with, it certainly can't do any harm.

I think that most posters have got most of what I intended to say. Anchoring is fine, but why go to those lengths? Is this just a method of covering poor presentation? If so it is not an appropriate use of a psychological tool.

Presentation is everything. It is what makes me still a second rate magician. I can "do" lots of tricks and sleights. But I still do not present them well. That is my problem and one I am working hard to rectify. NLP is not the way forward for me, polished and rehearsed presentation is