The Art Of Misdirection - Apollo Robbins!

Watch the video and ll in the blanks with the missing words:! Do you think its [1] ____________ to control someones attention? Even more than that, what about predicting human behavior? I think those are interesting ideas, if you could. I mean, for me, that would be the perfect [2] ______________ , actually kind of an evil way of approaching it. But for myself, in the past, Ive spent the last 20 years studying human behavior from a rather unorthodox way: picking pockets. When we think of misdirection, we think of something as looking off to the side, when actually its often the things that are right in front of us that are the hardest things to see, the things that you look at [3] _______________ that youre blinded to.! For example, how many of you still have your cell phones on you right now? Great. Double-check. Make [4] ___________ you still have them on you. I was doing some shopping beforehand. Now youve looked at them probably a few times today, but Im going to ask you a question about them. Without looking at your cell phone directly yet, can you remember the icon in the bottom right corner? Bring them out, check, and see how accurate you were. Howd you do? Show of hands. Did we get it?! Now that youre done looking at those, close them down, because every phone has something in [5] _____________ . No matter how you organize the icons, you still have a clock on the front. So, without looking at your phone, what time was it? You just looked at your clock, right? Its an interesting idea. Now, Ill ask you to take that a step further with a game of trust. Close your eyes. I realize Im asking you to do that while you just heard theres a pickpocket in the room, but close your eyes.! Now, youve been watching me for about [6] ___________ seconds. With your eyes closed, what am I wearing? Make your best guess. What color is my shirt? What color is my tie? Now open your eyes. By a show of hands, were you right?! Its interesting, isnt it? Some of us are a little bit more perceptive than others. It seems that way. But I have a different [7] ___________ about that, that model of attention. They have fancy models of attention, Posners trinity model of attention. For me, I like to think of it very simple, like a surveillance system. Its kind of like you have all these fancy sensors, and inside your brain is a little security guard. For me, I like to call him Frank. So Frank is sitting at a desk. Hes got all sorts of cool information in front of him, high-tech equipment, hes got cameras, hes got a little phone that he can pick up, listen to the ears, all these senses, all these perceptions. But [8] ____________ is what steers your perceptions, is what controls your reality. Its the gateway to the mind. If you dont attend to something, you cant be aware of it. But ironically, you can attend to something without being aware of it. Thats why theres the cocktail effect: When youre in a party, youre having conversations with someone, and yet you can recognize your name and you didnt even realize you were listening to that.! Now, for my job, I have to play with techniques to exploit this, to play with your attention as a limited resource. So if I could control how you spend your attention, if I could maybe steal your attention through a distraction. Now, instead of doing it like misdirection and throwing it off to the side, instead, what I choose to focus on is Frank, to be able to play with the Frank inside your head, your little security guard, and get you, instead of focusing on your external senses, just to go internal for a second. So if I ask you to access a memory, like, what is that? What just happened? Do you have a wallet? Do you have an American Express in your wallet? And when I do that, your Frank turns around. He accesses the le. He has to [9] _____________ the tape. And whats interesting is, he cant rewind the tape at the same time that hes trying to process new data.!

Now, I mean, this sounds like a good [10] _____________, but I could talk for a long time and tell you lots of things, and they may be true, a portion of them, but I think its better if I tried to show that to you here live. So if I come down, Im going to do a little bit of shopping. Just hold still where you are.! Now enjoy the speakers demonstration:! Hello, how are you? Its lovely to see you. You did a wonderful job onstage. You have a lovely watch that doesnt come off very well. Do you have your ring as well? Good. Just taking inventory. Youre like a buffet. Its hard to tell where to start, theres so many great things.! Hi, how are you? Good to see you.! Hi, sir, could you stand up for me, please? Just right where you are. Oh, youre married. You follow directions well. Thats nice to meet you, sir. You dont have a whole lot inside your pockets. Anything down by the pocket over here? Hopefully so. Have a seat. There you go. Youre doing well! Hi, sir, how are you? Good to see you, sir. You have a ring, a watch. Do you have a wallet on you?! [Joe:] I dont.! [Apollo Robbins:] Well, well nd one for you. Come on up this way, Joe. Give Joe a round of applause. Come on up Joe. Lets play a game.! (Applause)! Pardon me.! I dont think I need this clicker anymore. You can have that. Thank you very much. I appreciate that.! Come on up to the stage, Joe. Lets play a little game now. Do you have anything in your front pockets?! [Joe:] Money.! [Apollo Robbins:]! Money. All right, lets try that. Can you stand right over this way for me? Turn around and, lets see, if I give you something that belongs to me, this is just something I have, a poker chip. Hold out your hand for me. Watch it kind of closely. Now this is a task for you to focus on. Now you have your money in your front pocket here? Joe: Yup. AR: Good. Im not going to actually put my hand in your pocket. Im not ready for that kind of commitment. One time a guy had a hole in his pocket, and that was rather traumatizing for me. I was looking for his wallet and he gave me his phone number. It was a big miscommunication.! So lets do this simply. Squeeze your hand. Squeeze it tight. Do you feel the poker chip in your hand?! [Joe:] I do.! [Apollo Robbins:] Would you be surprised if I could take it out of your hand? Say yes.! [Joe:] Very.! [Apollo Robbins:] Good. Open your hand. Thank you very much. Ill cheat if you give me a chance. Make it harder for me. Just use your hand. Grab my wrist, but squeeze, squeeze rm. Did you see it go? Joe: No. AR: No, its not here. Open your hand. See, while were focused on the

hand, its sitting on your shoulder right now. Go ahead and take it off. Now, lets try that again. Hold your hand out at. Open it up all the way. Put your hand up a little bit higher, but watch it close there, Joe. See, if I did it slowly, itd be back on your shoulder. (Laughter) Joe, were going to keep doing this till you catch it. Youre going to get it eventually. I have faith in you. Squeeze rm. Youre human, youre not slow. Its back on your shoulder. You were focused on your hand. Thats why you were distracted. While you were watching this, I couldnt quite get your watch off. It was difcult. Yet you had something inside your front pocket. Do you remember what it was? Joe: Money. AR: Check your pocket. See if its still there. Is it still there? (Laughter) Oh, thats where it was. Go ahead and put it away. Were just shopping. This tricks more about the timing, really. Im going to try to push it inside your hand. Put your other hand on top for me, would you? Its amazingly obvious now, isnt it? It looks a lot like the watch I was wearing, doesnt it?! (Laughter) (Applause)! [Joe:] Thats pretty good. Thats pretty good.! [Apollo Robbins:]! Oh, thanks. But its only a start. Lets try it again, a little bit differently. Hold your hands together. Put your other hand on top. Now if youre watching this little token, this obviously has become a little target. Its like a red herring. If we watch this kind of close, it looks like it goes away. Its not back on your shoulder. It falls out of the air, lands right back in the hand. Did you see it go? Yeah, its funny. Weve got a little guy. Hes union. He works up there all day. If I did it slowly, if it goes straightaway, it lands down by your pocket. I believe is it in this pocket, sir? No, dont reach in your pocket. Thats a different show. So (Squeaking noise) thats rather strange. They have shots for that. Can I show them what that is? Thats rather bizarre. Is this yours, sir? I have no idea how that works. Well just send that over there.! Thats great. I need help with this one. Step over this way for me. Now dont run away. You had something down by your pants pocket. I was checking mine. I couldnt nd everything, but I noticed you had something here. Can I feel the outside of your pocket for a moment? Down here I noticed this. Is this something of yours, sir? Is this? I have no idea. Thats a shrimp.! [Joe:] Yeah. Im saving it for later.! [Apollo Robbins:] Youve entertained all of these people in a wonderful way, better than you know. So wed love to give you this lovely watch as a gift. (Laughter) Hopefully it matches his taste. But also, we have a couple of other things, a little bit of cash, and then we have a few other things. These all belong to you, along with a big round of applause from all your friends. (Applause)! Joe, thank you very much.! (Applause)! So, same question I asked you before, but this time you dont have to close your eyes. What am I wearing?! Attention is a powerful thing. Like I said, it shapes your reality. So, I guess Id like to pose that question to you. If you could control somebodys attention, what would you do with it?! Thank you.! (Applause) !

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ANSWER KEY:! 1. possible! 2. superpower! 3. every day! 4. sure! 5. common! 6. thirty! 7. theory! 8. attention! 9. rewind! 10. theory!

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