[Members Only] Alice Pailhes: The Psychology of Magic and Decision-Making

Shane Parrish: You study forcing techniques, which are the subtle factors that influence our choices without us knowing. My understanding is [that] the two main types are decision forces and outcome forces. Can you explain what these are and how they’re used?

Alice Pailhes: Yes, sure. So forcing techniques in general are all the techniques that magicians have to influence someone’s choice or the outcome of this choice. So we have outcome forces, which are widely used by magicians; they’re the most used ones. Basically they are the moments where a magician will try to influence the outcome of what’s happening. So in these tricks, the spectator will have a free choice. The magician will not try to influence the choice, but this free choice will not have an impact on the outcome of the trick, which is mainly a card or an object which is chosen.