Testosterone

[greg]

Testosterone , I was watching a show on the National Geographic Channel about testosterone and how it affects your personality and the actions you do. They mentioned that people with an index finger larger than than the ring finger have more testosterone. And the people with the index finger smaller have less testosterone.
I was thinking about making this a tool for the audience. Choosing a spectator, for example, by looking at finger size is a great way of knowing the kind of personality a person might have before choosing them for a trick. I just want to get some opinions on my idea, do you think we should use testosterone in our advantage this will help in:
-mentalism.
-audience management.
-Identifying hecklers.

 

[Jun Fan Hsu]

Suggestion

Hey Greg:

I think that might be something that many psychologists and psychics use to their advantage already or maybe not. I guess I'm not sure. =) However, if you feel it will help you accomplish what you want to in a performance, go ahead and use it.

Just be sure to take some precaution though when you're doing something like that. You are pretty much in the territory of 'cold reading.' It's a form of understanding people without much in depth knowledge of how they go about their day to day lives. So you must be careful not to imply or impose any information that may affect their emotional stability in the long run. Don't I sound like Dr. Phil (If you're under 10 y/o, I probably do=)

If you are interested in this kind of thing, check out "Wonder Words" by Kenton Knepper ( as long as you're over 18 y/o, in my opinion). He will give you tips on how to read body language and how to get the audience to think the way you'd like them too. And no, he will not go into anything perverse. These are concepts you can apply to your magic or other forms of performances that you do already. And in my opinion, Kenton Knepper is the true Grand Daddy of all Mentalism: not Banachek, Max Maven or Derren Brown. =)

Hope that helps.

JFH

 

[Virus]

I agree.

It could work, but it wouldnt work 100%

 

[Shodan]

I think that its not worth worrying about - wishful thinking. The idea that personality and behavioural attributes can be deduced from physical characteristics is certainly not new; there was a point in history when it was believed that careful measurements of the head could determine whether you had a criminal nature...

(Apparantly there's still some research going on in this area - analysis of the human walk is supposed to be able to give insight into behaviour, which sounds a bit off to me but what do I know?) Point is that whatever physical characteristics MAY be able to tell you about someone's personality/hormone levels, its going to be far too subtle to actually make use of in a performance situation. Th best option is always going to be developing a sense about who's engaged and not, who's on your side and not, by studying their reactions to you as you go about your performance.

David.

 

[greg]

I don't mean to use testosterone as cold reading but like a prediction on what kind of spectators you are dealing with.

 

[Shodan]

*sigh*

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother trying to contribute.

 

[greg]

*sigh*

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother trying to contribute.

I was talking to Jun Fan Hsu I totally agree with you.

 

[Amane]

I watched that same video on youtube yesterday haha

 

[fridoliina]

Well, even if they said that thing about finger size it will not be 100% correct, FAR from it.

There are so many more things that matters when it comes to testostorone.

A person who eats healthy, sleeps alot, and worksout will have alot of higher testostorone even if he has a small finger then a person who eats junk food and plays computer games all night.

Age does also matter, a guy who is 20 - 25 will have ALOT more testostorone then a guy who is 35 - 40 even if he has short fingers.

Its a very small difference and its nothing to worry about.

 

[Jun Fan Hsu]

I think you Fridoliina is correct.

I.e.: If there was a male spectator with small feet in the audience, we would not just say, "Sir, I suspect that your wife is not satisfied with you and ready to file a divorce, so you better pump it up a notch (obviously exagerated)." It is not statistically proven that men with bigger feet are better.

So, we are more defined by how we walk, talk, sound, make eye contact and how our attitudes are and our biological make may not be a likely predictor of our actions.

This is why I would suggest looking into Kenton Kneppers "Wonder Words" to help understand why people do what they do and how we can also influence our audience by using subtle cues that lead into our spectators sub-conscious. Do not think the series is all about mind reading (well, it is actually) but it is a way for the spectators to see things our way. That is the main point of the series. Surely there are plenty of effects that we would love to perform but just are not very convincing. Now imagine, what would it be like if you could get a spectator to see that very same effect that your were doubtful about in the same light that you see it? These are also techniques many doctors, lawyers, Co. leaders and psychiatrists use in there field. I think it's worth every penny.

Hope that helps a little.

JFH

 

[RichmanMatthew]

That is a great piece of information to know IMO. Thanks for sharing it with us.