A research paper,
Magic & Manipulation.
On manipulation.
Magic & Manipulation.
Written in 2019.
My small seven-year-old figure sat beside the front door, peering out the window as I, rather impatiently, awaited the arrival of the familiar white truck. The moment the ugly vehicle pulled into my driveway, I bolted from my seated position to greet the man on the front stoop, a twinkle already present in my eyes. I could see it in his hand, peeking out among the rest of the mail: the shiny yellow cover of the latest National Geographic Kids magazine that I had eagerly been waiting for all month. Prepared for my tiny, restless hands grabbing at the pile of bills and useless catalogs, he handed me the novelty as I scampered inside with a racing heart. Although seemingly trivial, these magazines are what I looked forward to throughout the entire period I had deemed the “in between.” Being a shy little kid, I often spent my time alone, and I characterized the “in between” as the listless moments caught between big happenings. National Geographic opened me to the world beyond my backyard trampoline, the macrocosm of the outlandish and unfamiliar; and soon, these big happenings consisted of things that I recognized as strange or unusual, things that I did not quite understand and knew I might never. I was infatuated by the abnormal, by objects, animals, or ideas that failed to make sense, constantly trying to explain and dissect them within my head. But my inability to determine their meaning was what drove my intellectual curiosity. As I grew older, my fascination with strange fish with unnecessarily large noses transitioned into an awe-inspired interest in magic, and I soon began to understand just how reasonable it was to believe in the unbelievable. A phenomenon treasured across America, magic manipulates individuals in a way they can accept: consensually. Altering the conceptions humans hold about the way the world operates, magic provides a sense of thrill with no real consequences and pushes the boundaries of what humans once thought to be impossible. We all can recognize magic as an artful manipulation - a manipulation that awes and infatuates, confuses and mystifies. But what about those darker forms of manipulation? The ones that warp emotional responses and destroy lives or entire corporations, before anyone can realize they’ve been manipulated? The psychology behind magic and why humans are so drawn to its innocent deceit can explain why we often fall prey to the manipulation that we hope to avoid.
Magic is generally recognized as an acceptable form of manipulation, but the ways in which human perception and behavior are actually altered during tricks go widely unnoticed. Although harmless, successful magicians possess a deep understanding of human attention and awareness, and have perfected the ways in which to exploit it through “manipulating people’s attention, tricking them into focusing on irrelevant objects or occurrences and into making incorrect assumptions about the purpose of an action” (Martinez-Conde). Developing a series of these cognitive illusions, magicians make it impossible for viewers to understand the reality behind what has happened, giving observers the impression that there can only be one explanation: magic. Apollo Robbins, the infamous pickpocket, is a master at this kind of deception, using illusions such as patter, “the smooth and confident stream of commentary that can be used to hold, direct or divide attention,” sleight of hand, touch, and after-imaging in a combined effort to “jerk [his victim’s] attention around the way a magnet draws a compass needle” (Macknik, Stephen L.). After-imaging allows Robbins to squeeze the space of an individual's wrist where their watch band is normally located to simulate the presence of the object, so the touch neurons in his victim’s skin are less sensitive to the watch’s removal, and touch allows him to misdirect his victim’s attention to other locations of their body instead of where the trick itself is actually taking place. All of these methods are used to abuse the concept, described by William James, the 1890 philosopher of modern psychology, that attention is a focalization on one of the several simultaneous objects or trains of thought that dictate your consciousness, “[implying that] withdrawal from some things [is necessary] in order to deal effectively with others” (Macknik). There are a number of different cognitive processes that refer to attention, but in particular, this “‘spotlight of attention’ that restricts how much information you can take in from a region of visual space at any given time” forces you to “ignore virtually everything else” (Macknik) that could require your attention. This tunnel vision is what allows magicians to effectively manipulate and control what you are able to see or notice, by localizing a subjects attention to a “frame” that allows all maneuvers outside of that frame to go unnoticed. Apollo states that misdirection is really all about “force focusing your spotlight of attention to a particular place and at a particular time” (Macknik) using psychological and neural principles like passive misdirection, active misdirection, time misdirection, and decoy actions. Passive misdirection, such as a white dove flying out of a hat, refers to new, bright, or flashy objects that draw your attention due to increased activity of your senses and provide unattended moments for tricks to be performed. Active misdirection requires the magician to purposefully direct your attention to a task by asking you to perform an irrelevant action, such as look through a book while he steals from you. Time misdirection is used to create delays between the method behind the trick and its resulting effect, so that the two cannot be seen as correlating. An example of this is displayed through the changing dresses trick, in which a red spotlight is displayed over the white dress worn by the subject in the moments that people expect the dress to be actually changed from white to red. Once the audience is caught off guard by the joke, the actual dress change takes place and they are unable to recognize that the red spotlight actually assisted in making the change possible. Lastly, decoy actions are tricks that are embedded within natural actions. Teller, from the famous magic duo Penn and Teller, explains that when a seemingly natural or spontaneous action that appears to have a clear purpose is performed, such as drinking water or adjusting his glasses, “a magician can [prompt] your mirror neurons to feed you false inferences about what he is actually doing or not doing” (Martinez-Conde). These mirror neurons are braincells that allow humans to understand and assume the intentions of others based on their actions, which magicians exploit in order to trick you into making incorrect assumptions. All of these principles are used by magicians in order to manipulate human attention and awareness, and are what allow awe-inspiring “magic” to become a “reality.”
Although magic is recognized as a form of manipulation, humans are inexplicably drawn to its properties because it creates feelings of delight, wonder, and superiority. I often questioned why I was so infatuated with the weird and unfamiliar as a child, but soon I began to understand that as an evolutionary species, humans are “wired to be in awe of things that cannot be logically explained”(Verhaagen). This is largely because of the human tendency to make sense of the world and create logical reasoning, regardless of its accuracy, for the ways in which the universe operates. Often wanting to be in control, humans attempt to generate explanations for why something is possible, but when such answers seem out of reach, “it produces a thrill in our brain” (Verhaagen). Magic compromises the preconceived notions that individuals hold about the world, providing a sense of danger, yet within a completely safe environment. It produces a similar emotional response to the ones created by roller coasters or scary movies in that it provides an opportunity to be scared safely. The human brain is “delighted” when “something challenges the laws of nature and nobody gets hurt and the Earth keeps spinning on its axis” (Verhaagen). Additionally, magic provides a sense of wonder and comfort for almost all individuals who view it. Just as humans want to believe in superstition or religion, people want to believe in magic. These things all share a common denominator of explaining away the unexplainable, maintaining the comforting belief that there are some things simply out of human control, and in the hands of magic or a higher power. Often viewed as a coping mechanism, these beliefs provide humans with a certain “innate sense that everything happens for a reason” (Wolchover). Magic also provides a sense of awe at the idea that, “if magic is real, then maybe all of these other cool things that we want to believe, are real too” (Verhaagen). Extending the irrationality, humans are mystified by the possibility that the impossible could simply be possible, and that the world may be far more wonderful, and full of miracles, than they once thought. In his article, Psychologist Dr. Dave Verhaagen writes about his extremely intelligent friend who “found it easier to believe the magician had superhuman mind reading abilities than to believe he had been tricked” (Verhaagen). Rather than destroy the mystery behind magic and believe that we had simply been fooled, humans would much rather maintain the sense of wonder that they crave. Lastly, magic tailors to the human need of feeling superior and, in some ways, in control. People have a tendency to often feel as though they are superior to others, as demonstrated by the statistic that “94% of professors rated themselves as ‘above average’ compared to other faculty members, and 93% of U.S. drivers rated themselves as ‘above average’” (Verhaagen). Many people are drawn to magic due to their overestimation of their own ability to decipher the trick: viewers often believe they have outsmarted the magician or the rest of the audience, when in fact they have no idea how it really happened. Regardless, they believe in their own misconstrued version of how the magician accomplished his foolery, and for gaining that sense of superiority, that is all that truly matters. This can also be accomplished by feeling in control of something that has occurred, such as with voodoo dolls or telekinesis. Matthew Hutson, the author of “The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking” states that believing we are responsible for specific events that we were likely unrelated to is a “byproduct of how we understand causality. If there are two events, A and B, if A happens before B, if there are no other obvious causes of B, and if A and B are conceptually related, then we assume A caused B” (Wolchover). This allows humans to correlate a thought they had, such as inflicting pain upon a person through a voodoo doll, with a real-life action, such as that person then experiencing a migraine. When humans perform “some symbolic action or ritual, [they] tend to think it will bring about what it symbolizes” (Wolchover). This feeling of responsibility and power contributes to the infatuation that people possess for magic. Overall, feelings of delight, wonder, comfort, superiority, and responsibility are the key determinants that cause human beings to enjoy and appreciate the artful manipulation of magic. But how do such tendencies create problems for avoiding the negative forms of manipulation that no one wants to experience?
The 2017 Fyre Festival has been called “one of the most notorious music disasters of the decade” (Fyre). It promised a luxury festival experience on the island of Great Exuma in the Bahamas, and instead became one of the most talked about scams of 2019, resulting in the sentencing of Billy McFarland, the founder, to six years in prison. With a number of documentaries being released about the failed festival, consumers get a glimpse into the massive manipulation that allowed so many innocent people to be duped by false promises. And the largest culprits? Delight, wonder, and superiority. From the moment the Fyre app, an app designed to book musical talent, began to gain momentum, Fyre employees were already hooked, believing it “had the potential to be a billion dollar platform” and a “platform that had the opportunity to revolutionize the way the industry worked” (Fyre). Everyone wanted the chance to feel a part of something special, a novelty that was borderline dangerous, just as individuals want to be a part of magic or a miracle that challenges human perceptions of the way the world operates. They believed that Billy McFarland could create this for them, and as a result, the entire corporation eventually fell apart. Just as the employees were quickly enthralled by the wonderful possibilities that had the potential of becoming a reality, the viewers and future attendees of the festival also fell prey to the disillusions created by social media. When the festival became the core focus of promoting the Fyre app and brand, and the promotional video containing ten of the world’s top supermodels was released, it was said to be “the coolest party that you had ever seen advertised” (Fyre), selling a vision of a lifestyle that people crave: a life full of luxury, fame, beautiful women, and extravagant parties. Within 48 hours, they had sold all of their tickets based on their ability to “sell a pipe dream to the average loser” in which “for three or four days you can escape reality and come experience Pablo Escobar’s old island” (Fyre). This concept of escaping reality is a parallel to the world of magic, as humans are so drawn to its odd manipulation, in part, because of the wonder created by its ability to transcend the realm of the impossible. Additionally, Billy McFarland and co-founder Ja Rule so strongly believed in their vision that everyone who followed them believed in it as well. Having coined the term “the magic bird,” McFarland and Rule compared their impact on the entertainment industry to “the impact that Magic Johnson and Larry Bird had on the NBA” (Fyre). Their energy was said to be infectious, and important people involved in the company described Billy as seemingly “very very charismatic, very trustworthy” and “one of the world’s greatest salesmen [who] could convince anyone of pretty much anything” (Fyre). Billy created an aura of superiority for employees and consumers alike, convincing them that his vision was a ticket to gaining power over one’s destiny. When the time for the festival finally rolled around and it was clear that the whole event would quickly dissolve into chaos, with hundreds of people trapped on an island with little to no food, water, or place to sleep after paying thousands of dollars to be there, those involved were still so dedicated to the dream that they were unable to pull the plug on the production. The desire to hold on to this miracle, and maintain this ideal of being a part of something that was special, “overcame [their] inner wisdom, which was like ‘this is a mess’” (Fyre). People were willing to sacrifice anything and everything, including their own dignity by using oral sex as bribery, in order to save the festival. Believing so strongly in the app and the brand “[blinded them] to a lot of what was going on internally” (Fyre). Looking back, all of those involved began to recognize that they had been completely and utterly manipulated by a borderline sociopath, but in the midst of dreams becoming a reality, they had preferred to believe in an illusion rather than believe they had been fooled. In a very similar way, people want to believe that magic is real, rather than believe they have been duped. Billy McFarland ended up getting charged with various forms of fraud, as he had lied to his consumers, his business associates, and everyone in between. He had mastered the art of making people feel important and feel like “a part of his family,” and had used their “emotional investment in this team and in this product to extort [them]. [That] was Billy’s charm” (Fyre). When the vision was completely out of reach and the man a clear misjudgment of character, people stated that they “never thought it would end like this” (Fyre). How could they, when they had fallen prey to the deceit of an all-too-familiar manipulation?
Heaven’s Gate, labeled “one of the most notorious cults of the 20th century” (Hafford), made headlines across the world in 1997 with their disturbing mass suicide of 39 victims over a period of three days. While some may view this bizarre demonstration as an act of enlightened free will, there are a number of signs that point to severe brainwashing and manipulation of the cult members involved, suggesting that suicide may not have really been a choice. According to Steven Hill, a former member of Heaven’s Gate, Marshall Herff Applewhite, their leader, was a “self-styled messiah” known to be “a cold, calculating, manipulative hypocrite” who wouldn’t allow his followers “to see anything but what he wanted them to see” (Vick). Applewhite, who was often regarded as having absolute power, often exploited weaknesses and feelings of wonder in order to recruit members. This was the case for Hill, who had experienced a number of suspicious events, targeting both him and his wife, that caused him to be paranoid and look for answers. Upon finding Heaven’s Gate, he simply saw it as the solution, because "after all that had happened, the world had become the enemy” (Vick). Heaven’s Gate had told them they were right, that there were strange people out to get them. They made them feel not only accepted, but loved, as though they had come to the right place. Those involved in the cult were made to feel special, superior to the mundane Earthly beings, who would one day collectively leave for better opportunities and guidance from something bigger than what existed in human reality. Just as those who believe in magic, religion, and superstition, members of Heaven’s Gate found comfort in the idea that things were out of human control, and instead in the hands of a higher power, in this case, a “highly developed extraterrestrial” (Vick). “Higher source” was even the title of Heaven’s Gate’s website, which suggested that reaching “Next Level,” another world in the universe where residents live in pure bliss, was the ultimate goal of the cult and only possible by leaving Earth through a spaceship following the Hale-Bopp comet. Additionally, people who eventually became members of the cult often experienced feelings of delight at the prospect that their understanding of the world was actually false, similar to those who are drawn to magic tricks and scary movies. They were taught to view these new ideologies as an unveiling of what had been true all along, but in Hill’s case, after “having immersed himself in the cult's teachings for months before living among its members, he found the reality far short of the ideal” (Vick). His belief in an extraterrestrial world allowed him to fantasize about what other strange phenomenons might be possible, but this ideal was quickly shattered by an incredibly controlling environment that they felt they couldn’t escape, in which you were pressured not to leave, scolded for looking at the internet, and forced to look, and be, the same as everyone else, down to suffix that they attached to the end of your given name: “-ody.” When Hill finally left Heaven’s Gate due to an illness, which had been deemed by Applewhite as “a bad influence,” his wife, Yvonne, did not join him. He waited for her to return to him, and upon witnessing the news about the mass suicide, “knew she wouldn’t have done that” (Vick). But with the release of the farewell video, he saw his wife, smiling as she said “there’s nothing here for me” (Vick), and knew that he had made a terrible mistake. Forced to believe that the core beliefs of Heaven’s Gate were the only beliefs left to follow, the 39 members that lost their lives had fallen prey to an irreversible manipulation.
Millions of people around the world are infatuated by magic. Drawn to its safely manipulative properties, humans get to escape their reality for a moment and believe in the impossible. But they need to be aware of the consequences that come with such desires extending into other components of life. Humans want to see the best in people, want to believe that we all have good intentions and can be apart of something spectacular. Is that why it is so hard to recognize, and accept, that we are being fooled? All too often, individuals find themselves in dangerous and life-altering situations that could have been avoided, had they not fallen prey to delusions created by delight, wonder, and superiority. If we ever want to overcome manipulation, we must be aware of our own irrational tendencies. Magic is fun, until suddenly, it isn’t