I enjoy the program because i miss the variety show talent that we used to see. As an amateur magician, i enjoy seeing newcomers or people i have seen in other places. There are some magicians who have written and spoken about the factors of good magic performance that are relevant to psych (more than just perceptual principles). For example, Teller, Eugene Burger, the psychologist and magician Richard Wiseman and others, have written on such topics. I became interested in magic, as have others, while trying to understand the social and cognitive dimensions of so-called psychic and paranormal experiences. Some of the first magic effects i learned were taught by Randi, Joe Nickell, and a (now deceased) psychologist in Kentucky, Robert Baker at Magic for Skeptics conferences in the 90's. After learning about deception and self-deception, I got involved with my local magic club, fell in love with magic, and developed magic presentations for some of my classes. I would encourage psychologists to contact their local groups of magicians for some valuable discussions of magic principles that are relevant to many facets of psychological study. Many of the illusions on AGTalent involve older, classical effects but presented in new ways. Not only memory and perceptual principles are involved (such as misinformation effects, mental sets, and change blindness), but also issues of attitude and belief formation, conformity and misattribution. GPeterson aka Nosretep the skeptical psychic Saginaw Valley State University Gary's iPad
On Aug 29, 2010, at 6:26 PM, "Serafin, John" <[email protected]> wrote: > Ok, I'm going to go out on a limb here. First of all, I admit to being a > huge fan of magicians (illusionists, if you prefer that term). I am not a > huge fan of the show, America's Got Talent. But.... > > That show has a couple of pretty good magicians this year. Relationship to > psychology? This relates to perception. > > Watch this trick: > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIXqO_jcVXA&p=D8D9DC4B4A148D20&playnext=1&ind > ex=10 > > Psychologists are generally pretty good at figuring out what's going on. > I've got some thoughts about this one, but I'm curious whether others have > ideas as well. > > Now, we're not on stage to watch this...but what do you think? > And then there's this one: > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiUDdRA-v2o > > Theoretically, all of this is being done on live TV. > > I think we need Randi to explain all of this. > > John > -- > John Serafin > Psychology Department > Saint Vincent College > Latrobe, PA 15650 > [email protected] > > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13445.e3edca0f6e68bfb76eaf26a8eb6dd94b&n=T&l=tips&o=4493 > or send a blank email to > leave-4493-13445.e3edca0f6e68bfb76eaf26a8eb6dd...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=4494 or send a blank email to leave-4494-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
