The Psychology of Magic and its Use in Wellbeing with Gustav Kuhn, PhD

The Mind, Body and Soul in Healing

"As cognitive psychologists we are very much interested in these unconscious processes. Most of the processes that are involved to create your reality you are not consciously aware of. There are more computations that happen in our unconscious minds to allow us to solve a lot of these problems. As within psychoanalysis we are often unaware of a lot of these processes, and as magicians this is very useful because it allows us to manipulate your experiences without you necessarily being aware of this."

Episode Description: Professor Kuhn utilizes his expertise as a cognitive psychologist to deepen our understanding of the psychological processes that operate when we observe magic. We discuss the power and persuasiveness of misdirection and what's called the 'magician's force'. These are both techniques designed to distract for the purpose of disguise. In addition to being used for entertainment, these maneuvers need to be understood as they can be part of legal and political manipulation. Gustav showed me a sleight hand trick and then explained what the trick was. We also discussed how both observing and learning magic has application in settings to improve an individual's sense of wellbeing.

Our Guest: Gustav Kuhn, Ph.D. is a cognitive psychologist with a background as a semi-professional magician. Gustav now directs the MAGIC (Mind Attention and General Illusory Cognition) lab at Goldsmith, University of London, where they use magic to uncover the functioning of the human mind. Gustav is one of the leading researchers in the Science of Magic, and his research team spans a wide range of disciplines. For example, Alice Pailhès is currently studying different types of forcing techniques to learn more about how magicians covertly influence people’s choices. Other researchers in his team are using eye-tracking technologies to examine how magicians misdirect their audience’s attention. Steve Bagienski is exploring different ways in which magic can be used to enhance people’s well-being. This research shows that magic offers a unique tool to enhance different aspects of our mental health and wellbeing.

Gustav has published more than 80 scientific papers and his work often appears on Radio, TV, and the press, and he has also written a book on the psychology of magic, entitled Experiencing The Impossible. Gustav is a member of the Magic Circle and the President of the Science of Magic Association.