Abstract
We investigated an individual ability to identify whether choices were made freely or forced by external parameters. We capitalized on magical setups where the notion of psychological forcing constitutes a well trodden path. In live stage magic, a magician guessed cards from spectators while inquiring how freely they thought they had made the choice. Our data showed a marked blindness in the introspection of free choice. Spectators assigned comparable ratings when choosing the card that the magician deliberately forced them compared to any other card, even in classical forcing, where the magician literally handles a card to the participant This observation was paralleled by a laboratory experiment where we observed modest changes in subjective reports by factors with drastic effect in choice. Pupil dilatation, which is known to tag slow cognitive events related to memory and attention, constitutes an efficient fingerprint to index subjective and objective aspects of choice.
Highlights
The word ‘‘forcing’’ is used in stage magic to describe the act in which a subject reports to have made a free decision among equal possibilities while manipulated by the performer whom, secretly knows the outcome of the choice
The scripted routine was run by a professional magician; he performed a sequence of four different guesses: three chosen cards and a number freely thought by the spectator
A professional magician ran a scripted routine where he performed a sequence of four different guesses: three chosen cards and a number freely thought by the spectator
Summary
The word ‘‘forcing’’ is used in stage magic to describe the act in which a subject reports to have made a free decision among equal possibilities while manipulated by the performer whom, secretly knows the outcome of the choice. We set to capitalize on this basic magical procedure to understand the subjective construct of free or conditioned choice. We conducted a one-on-one stage-magic performance, where the magician follows a script designed to inquire participants about their subjective feeling of choosing freely or forced. This questionnaire implemented by the magician was naturally embedded in the performance as part of the show. Since at least 1959 [13] magicians know that subjects tend to choose the last cards of the deck and the ones shown long enough to influence choice, but subtle enough to make the procedure opaque. CF has been used by stage magicians for centuries [4]
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