# Derren Brown's The Experment (BBC)



## Spinedriver (Oct 29, 2011)

Anyone check this out ? As far as I know they've only aired 2 of the 4 episodes so far but they've been pretty damn impressive. Personally, I'm not much into the whole hypnotism thing but the 2nd ep. was based on the Milgram experiment where when protected by anonymity, people tend to follow 'mob mentality' and be unnecessarily cruel.

Derren Brown: The Experiments - Channel 4


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## Explorer (Oct 29, 2011)

Derren Brown? The author of "Pure Effect" and "Pure Magic?" Interesting. I don't watch much TV, but his books (at least his early ones) were neat, not really methods, but more philosophical in the way of Eugene Burger and Tom Waters.

His work as a mentalist has apparently has scored him some neat gigs....


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## anthonyferguson (Oct 29, 2011)

I was really impressed.... I'd have been really interested to be there myself. Especially in the first, during the real experiment. I have to say it's very easy to be sceptical when it comes to these sorts of things. I hope it's all true!


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## Spinedriver (Oct 29, 2011)

anthonyferguson said:


> I was really impressed.... I'd have been really interested to be there myself. Especially in the first, during the real experiment. I have to say it's very easy to be sceptical when it comes to these sorts of things. I hope it's all true!




That's the thing, I'm a fan of Penn & Teller so they're ALL about uncovering secrets of post-hypnotic suggestion and things that can very easily be faked. As for hypnotizing people in a theater setting, part of it comes in as the subject not wanting to make the hypnotist look silly by not being able to make the person do whatever he's suggesting, so they just go along with it. That's why I enjoyed the 2nd episode a lot more because it was a straight up behavior experiment. No tricks, no secrets, just putting people in a situation and seeing how they react. There have been a few documentaries on the Stamford Prison Experiment as well (if you haven't heard of it, you really should look into it.. it's absolutely fascinating). But yeah, that game show episode was one of the most entertaining shows I've seen in a while.


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## Spinedriver (Oct 29, 2011)

Explorer said:


> Derren Brown? The author of "Pure Effect" and "Pure Magic?" Interesting. I don't watch much TV, but his books (at least his early ones) were neat, not really methods, but more philosophical in the way of Eugene Burger and Tom Waters.
> 
> His work as a mentalist has apparently has scored him some neat gigs....



As far as I know it is the same person. I've never heard of him before watching the shows. I was just browsing the 'net when I came across them and they sounded interesting, so the wife & I watched them and were quite impressed. Not so much by the hypnotist aspect of it but more by the fact that he predicted exactly how the subjects would behave. Mind you the footage shown could have been attempt number 17 but who's to say.


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