In the early 1900s, researchers looked into the psychology of magic as a way of understanding how the human mind works. That interest petered out over the next few decades, possibly due to the rise of behaviourism in the early 20th century, according to Ronald Rensink, a psychology professor at UBC.
“They were trying to break everything down into simple bits and pieces,” Rensink said. “There’s a bell and you expect meat. Simple associations, simple stimuli, and magic did not fit in to that.”
Rensink and co-researchers recently published a study showing how subtle cues can influence people to choose a desired card in a magic trick.
A similar story appeared on MSN.
Bruce's Blog 