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Tim FerrissRichard Wiseman on Lessons from Dale Carnegie, Mentalism, The Psychology of the Paranormal, and More
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CHAPTERS
- 0:15 – 9:50
From Magician to Parapsychologist: The Staring Study and Replication
After Tim Ferriss's introduction and a detour about the Edinburgh Fringe, Richard Wiseman explains how his background as a magician led him to a parapsychology PhD. He describes the remote-staring study, the experimenter effect, and how parapsychology helped spark psychology's replication movement.
- •Wiseman started as a magician and became fascinated by the paranormal
- •He answered a poster for a parapsychology PhD at Edinburgh as a self-declared skeptic
- •In the staring study his trials showed no effect while a believing colleague's did, evidence of an experimenter effect
- •Failed replications, including of Daryl Bem's precognition work, helped catalyze reform in mainstream psychology
- •He stays skeptical but finds the paranormal fascinating
- 9:50 – 13:30
The Magic Circle and What Psychology Can Learn from Magicians
Wiseman describes The Magic Circle and the community magic provides. He explains why magicians are ahead of scientists in understanding attention and perception, and why they protect their secrets.
- •The Magic Circle in London and the Inner Circle of about 300 magicians worldwide
- •Magic offers a tight-knit community
- •A magic trick must work on 100% of people every night, so magicians are practical psychologists
- •Science of magic is primitive compared to practitioners' skill
- •Magicians withhold secrets for the good of the audience
- 13:30 – 23:25
Admired Magicians, Mentalism and Cold Reading
Tim and Richard discuss performers they admire, including Penn & Teller, David Blaine and Derek DelGaudio, and the different genres of magic. Wiseman defines mentalism and cold reading and points to Derren Brown and Richard Turner.
- •Teller revealing the process behind a trick differs from simply exposing a method
- •Blaine's early street specials focused the camera on audience reactions
- •DelGaudio incorporates narrative into magic
- •Mentalism fabricates mental effects; cold reading uses general statements, flattery and double headers
- •Derren Brown is the UK name Wiseman suggests for mentalism
- 23:25 – 32:04
Mass Participation Studies: Lie Detection and LaughLab
Wiseman explains how his first BBC mass participation study on lie detection came about and what it showed about verbal cues. He then describes LaughLab, the search for the world's funniest joke.
- •Idea from a 30-second email led to a live TV lie-detection study with Sir Robin Day
- •About 30,000 people phoned in; accuracy was near chance on video but rose to about 70% from transcripts
- •Liars show lack of detail, shorter sentences, longer response times and psychological distancing
- •LaughLab took in jokes and ratings online, drew about a million participants, and required removing rude jokes
- •He deliberately leaves idea generation until he walks into the pitch room
- 32:04 – 39:17
NLP, Eye Movements and Demanding Evidence
Asked about neuro-linguistic programming, Wiseman says parts such as mirroring may have merit while the eye-movement lying idea failed his tests. He argues for checking claims against academic literature and cites brainstorming as an example.
- •NLP is a mixed bag, with some valid parts and some that fail
- •Eye-direction lie detection failed in a student theft study and in real police appeal press conferences
- •Check practitioners' claims against academic work when it matters
- •Individual idea generation beats group brainstorming
- •Wiseman wishes psychology did more research relevant to people's lives, such as success and entrepreneurship
- 39:17 – 46:44
Remote Viewing, Self-Deception and Choosing Book Topics
Wiseman defines remote viewing and explains why most psychics aren't faking but fooling themselves through chance and bias. He then recounts how chance shaped 59 Seconds and Paranormality.
- •Remote viewing is clairvoyance; Stargate was practitioner-based with little real testing
- •Most psychics and mediums aren't consciously cheating; confirmation bias and chance explain much
- •Dream-prediction illustrates how people overlook the many misses
- •59 Seconds came from a coffee chat and a schoolboy's heckle about the title
- •Paranormality explains why people believe things that aren't true
- 46:44 – 50:37
Twitter Experiments, Fake Seances and Ghost Hunting at Hampton Court
Wiseman describes further studies including a Twitter remote-viewing experiment, The Mind Machine, and staged Victorian-style seances. He tells the story of ghost hunting at Hampton Court Palace and the egg thrown at him.
- •Twitter remote-viewing and Mind Machine ESP results were at chance
- •Fake Victorian seances still fool modern audiences
- •Hampton Court ghost hunt used thermal sensors but focused on visitors' experiences
- •An egg thrown at him before the press conference looked like ectoplasm
- 50:37 – 59:39
Dreams, Lucid Dreaming and Night Terrors
Wiseman explains his fascination with dreaming and the solutions that come to him on waking. He and Tim swap experiences of lucid dreaming and night terrors.
- •Dreams are not random but work through anxieties and problem solving
- •Wiseman often wakes with solutions to experiments, ideas and magic items
- •His one lucid dream was spent shirt shopping
- •Tim describes training lucid dreaming via journaling, a perishable skill
- •Night terrors relate to anxiety and warm rooms; say the person's name gently rather than touching them
- 59:39 – 1:03:13
Improving Sleep: Techniques from Night School
Wiseman shares practical sleep techniques from his book Night School, covering nightmares in children, paradoxical intention and handling anxious wakefulness.
- •Rehearsing a recurring nightmare with a positive ending had about a 90% hit rate
- •The paradoxical approach of trying to stay awake helps people fall asleep
- •Writing down worries and counting backwards from 100 in threes occupies working memory
- •After about 10 minutes awake, get up and do something non-stimulating, then return to bed
- 1:03:13 – 1:12:34
Self-Help, Dale Carnegie and the Luck Diary
Wiseman explains his admiration for Dale Carnegie's books and his complaint that much self-help lacks scientific underpinning. He then describes how the luck research led to the luck diary and a gratitude-based reset of attention.
- •Carnegie's books came from hundreds of talks, and he kept a diary of damn stupid mistakes
- •Wiseman objects to self-help advice with no evidence, which can leave people fatalistic when it fails
- •Luck research began from interviewees' references to being lucky or unlucky
- •The luck diary counters habituation by prompting a nightly note of gratitude or positives
- •He says he waits to have ideas until entering the room, and shares only that the funniest joke involves two hunters
- 1:12:34 – 1:14:31
Teaching Life Skills in Schools
Wiseman argues schools teach little psychology useful for life and suggests magic as a vehicle for teaching skills like practice, performing and handling feedback.
- •Curricula are fact-based while resilience, relationships and happiness go untaught
- •Magic teaches practice, following instructions, audience awareness and handling negative feedback
- •The challenge is finding a framing that engages children
- •He would team up with effective teachers
- 1:14:31 – 1:18:45
The Yale Goal Study Myth and Tracing Original Sources
Wiseman explains how the widely cited Yale goal study turned out never to have been run. He and Tim discuss how citation snowballing spreads myths and why going to original sources matters.
- •The claim that 3% with goals out-earned the rest appears in many self-help books
- •Wiseman tried to find the original paper and discovered it never existed
- •Tim describes a Wikipedia echo effect where one citation propagates
- •Even real studies get sharpened as they are retold
- 1:18:45 – 1:23:44
Fallible Observation and Memory
Prompted by Feynman's warning about fooling yourself, Wiseman discusses inattentional blindness and the reconstructive nature of memory. He notes the legal implications and that people think it affects others, not themselves.
- •Inattentional blindness shows we are selective observers
- •Memory is built as a narrative from fragments, not replayed like film
- •About 40% of people said they saw a key still bending after suggestion
- •Juries may wrongly trust confident witnesses
- •People hold a uniqueness bias, assuming it's others who err
- 1:23:44 – 1:34:50
Parapsychologists, Pre-registration and the Apollo Mission Controllers
Wiseman discusses his partner Caroline Watt, pre-registration in parapsychology and psychology, and why researchers stay in the field. He then explains how a party conversation led him to study the Apollo mission controllers.
- •Caroline Watt is a more open parapsychologist who helped set up pre-registration
- •Bem's pre-registered large studies found null effects
- •Many parapsychologists are driven by an inexplicable personal experience
- •Apollo mission controllers were young, first-generation graduates and team players
- •Wiseman wrote Shoot for the Moon (Moonshot in America) about their mindset
- 1:34:50 – 1:48:02
Billboard, Documentaries, Mediums and Keeping Performances Fresh
In the closing stretch Wiseman answers Tim's billboard and recommendation questions, mentioning Carnegie, An Honest Liar and Man on Wire. They discuss charlatans versus helpful mediums, and Wiseman shares a performer's technique for keeping shows fresh before closing on his fascination with the impossible.
- •His billboard would say 'smile', following Carnegie
- •He recommends An Honest Liar and Man on Wire as favorite documentaries
- •Mediums can do harm but some do good, so a nuanced view is needed
- •A performer imagines the day he can no longer perform, then says 'not tonight' before going on
- •Wiseman says the thread through his work is fascination with the impossible
