RISING TO THE TOP

This short video of that cardrises-to-the-top trick reveals some important principles of deception. In order to illustrate, Daniel Roy will put aside the nebulously defined “magician’s code” of secrecy and explain how the trick works.

Method A: False Shuffle

The first time Roy does the trick, he gives the deck a few shuffles. He places the signed 5 of diamonds on top of the deck and gives the cards another shuffle, clearly mixing the top card into the deck. Yet, when he turns the top card over, it’s the 5 of diamonds. Through a complex series of sleight of hand maneuvers, he mimics the actions of a real shuffle, yet retains the positions of certain cards.

Method B: The Pass

The second time Roy does the trick, he uses a different method. He places the 5 of diamonds into the middle, then executes a difficult technique known as a pass, where the deck is secretly given a cut, even though it looks like the cards have not changed position. The selected card is revealed to once again be on top.

Method C: The Second Deal

For this final repetition, Roy puts the 5 of diamonds on top of the deck. He apparently takes the card and puts it into the middle of the deck. In reality, he performs a second deal, secretly taking the second card (instead of the top card) and putting it into the middle. In a live performance, he would allow an audience member to square up the deck and turn over the top card, revealing that the 5 of diamonds has risen to the top.

Now that we understand the methods behind the trick, let’s examine the psychological principles that underlie the deception.

Principle 1: Conditioning

A false shuffle (method A) deceives the eye, but to avoid arousing suspicion, the magician can condition you to accept this shuffle by performing the real shuffle a few times beforehand. You become accustomed to whichever manner of shuffling he uses, making the subsequent false version even more deceptive. This may occur because perception involves the intake of external stimuli and the projection of expectations onto the outside world.

Principle 2: The Critical Interval

There’s a problem with methods

A and B. After the selected card is placed in the middle, sleight of hand must be performed to bring the card to the top. The time in between card-goes-in-the-middle and card-appears-on-top is when the audience would naturally suspect sleight of hand to occur. This period is known as the critical interval and is defined as the time between the last sighting of the initial condition and the first sighting of the final condition. The initial condition is the 5 of diamonds going into the middle. The final condition is the 5 of diamonds appearing on top. Ideally, the sleight of hand would be moved out of this interval. That’s exactly what happens in method C: The second deal is performed before the card is put into the middle.

Principle 3: Memory Manipulation

In method C, Roy puts the deck on the table and, in a live performance, would let an audience member square the deck. To create the impression that this final moment was “hands off,” he might claim that he won’t touch the deck from now on, or even walk away from the deck, putting distance between himself and the cards. He’s attempting to distort the audience’s experience by narrating a slightly inaccurate version of events—a process known as postevent misinformation. Furthermore, people vastly overestimate their ability to accurately remember past events, which makes memory manipulation techniques more powerful. l