Wikipedia

Spoon bending

Spoon bendingis the deformation of objects, especially metalcutlery,purportedly byparanormalmeans. It is a common theme formagic tricks,which use a variety of methods to produce the effect. Performers commonly usemisdirectionto draw their audience's attention away while the spoon is manually bent. Another method uses a metal spoon that has been prepared by repeatedly bending the spoon back and forth,weakening the material.Applying light pressure will then cause it to bend or break.

Guy Bavli holds up a bent spoon in front of a small audience
Guy Bavlidemonstrates spoon bending in Denmark in 2010

Spoon bending attracted considerable media attention in the 1970s when a number of individuals claimed to have the ability to cause such effects bypsychicmeans. The most famous wasUri Geller,who performed on television bending metal spoons,keys,and other objects. Geller's performances were revealed to be tricks due to the work of magician and investigatorJames Randiand others.[1]

Despite hundreds of experiments byparapsychologiststo determine whether spoon bending is a genuine psychic phenomenon, spoon bending by psychic powers has not been demonstrated to the satisfaction of thescientific community.

History

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Spoon bending was popularized in the 1970s by magician and self-described psychicUri Geller,who claimed to haveparanormalpowers and appeared on television performing purportedlypsychokineticfeats such as causing spoons, nails, and keys to bend using the power of his mind. Geller's actual methods were revealed to be trickery largely due to the work of magician and investigatorJames Randi.[1][2](See§ Methods,below.)

While many individuals have claimed theparanormalorpsychokineticability to bend spoons or manipulate other objects, spoon bending by psychic powers has not been demonstrated to the satisfaction of thescientific community.Randi offereda prize of one million dollarsto any person who was able to demonstrate paranormal abilities, such as spoon bending.[3]

Scientific testing

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Parapsychologistshave conducted hundreds of experiments to determine whether spoon bending is a genuine psychic phenomenon.[4] PhysicistJohn Hastedbelieved that children could paranormally bendpaper clipsinside a glass sphere, provided the sphere had a hole in it and they were allowed to take the sphere into a room unobserved. Science writer and skepticMartin Gardnerwrote that Hasted was incapable of devising simple controls such as videotaping the children secretly.[5]Stephen North, a British psychic, was tested by Hasted in the late 1970s. Hasted claimed North had the psychokinetic ability to bend spoons andteleportobjects in and out of sealed containers.[6][page needed]According to James Randi, during a test conducted by Hasted atBirkbeck College,North was observed to have bent a metal sample with his bare hands.[7]North was tested inGrenobleon 19 December 1977 in scientific conditions and the results were negative.[8]

Jean-Pierre Girard, a French psychic, has claimed he can bend metal bars by psychokinesis. Girard was tested in the 1970s but failed to produce any paranormal effects in scientifically controlled conditions.[8]He was tested on January 19, 1977 during a two-hour experiment in aParislaboratory. The experiment was directed by physicist Yves Farge with a magician also present. All of the experiments were negative as Girard failed to make any of the objects move paranormally. He failed two tests inGrenoblein June 1977 with Randi.[8]He was also tested on September 24, 1977 at a laboratory at the Nuclear Research Centre. Girard failed to bend any bars or change the structure of the metals. Other experiments into spoon bending were also negative and witnesses described his feats as fraudulent. Girard later admitted that he would sometimes cheat to avoid disappointing the public but insisted he still had genuine psychic power.[8]Magicians and scientists have written that he produced all his alleged psychokinetic feats through fraudulent means.[9][page needed]

Between 1979 and 1981, the McDonnell Laboratory for Psychical Research at Washington University reported a series of experiments they namedProject Alpha,in which two teenaged male subjects had demonstrated psychokinesis phenomena, including metal-bending and causing images to appear on film, under less than stringent laboratory conditions. Randi eventually revealed that the subjects were two of his associates, amateur conjurersSteve Shawand Michael Edwards. The pair had created the effects by standard trickery, but the researchers, being unfamiliar with magic techniques, interpreted them as proof of psychokinesis.[10]

John Taylorhad tested children in metal bending. According to Gardner, the controls were inadequate as the children would put paper clips in their pockets and later take one out twisted or be left with metal rods unobserved. Randi managed to bend an aluminum bar when Taylor was not looking and scratch on it "Bent by Randi". In other experiments, two scientists from theUniversity of Bathexamined metal bending with children in a room which was secretly being videotaped through a one-way mirror. The film revealed that the children bent the objects with their hands and feet. Due to the evidence of trickery, Taylor concluded metal bending had no paranormal basis.[11]

In an experimental study (Wiseman and Greening, 2005) two groups of participants were shown avideotapein which a fake psychic placed a bentkeyon a table. Participants in the first group heard the fake psychic suggest that the key was continuing to bend when it had remained stationary, while those in the second group did not. The results revealed that participants from the first group reported significantly more movement of the key than the second group. The findings were replicated in another study. The experiments had demonstrated that "testimony for PKMB [psychokinetic metal bending] after effects can be created by verbal suggestion, and therefore the testimony from individuals who have observed allegedly genuine demonstrations of such effects should not be seen as strong evidence in support of the paranormal".[12]

Methods

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PsychologistRay Hymandemonstrating Geller's spoon bending feats at aCenter for Inquirylecture in 2012

Stage magicians use several methods of creating theillusionof a spoon bending spontaneously. Most common is the practice ofmisdirection,an underlying principle of many stage magic tricks;[13] the performer draws the audience's attention away from the spoon for the brief moment during which the spoon is manually bent. The magician then gradually reveals the bend.[14] At a 1998Skeptics Societyconference, investigator James Randi showed clips of Geller appearing on the Italian television channelRai 3and the BBC programmeNoel's House Party,in which he apparently manually bent various metal objects before displaying them to his audience.[15][time needed]

When a spoon is physically bent or broken, it is usually at the point where the object would be easiest to bend by hand. The typical bend, where the bowl meets the handle, requires relatively little force.[14] Another method uses a metal spoon that has been prepared by repeatedly bending the spoon back and forth,weakening the material.Applying light pressure will then cause it to bend or break.[2][13]The magician then holds together the two halves of the spoon as if it were unbroken, then slowly relaxes their grip, making the spoon appear to bend before splitting in two.[16]

If a magician has control over the viewing angle, the trick can be done by using a spoon that is already bent at the start of the trick. The spoon is initially held with the bend along the viewing angle, making it invisible. The magician then turns the spoon slowly to reveal the bend. The magician Ben Harris published step-by-step photographs and text showing how to bend keys and cutlery by trick methods.[17][page needed] Somenoveltyor magic shops sell self-bending spoons (utilizing the physical properties of ashape-memory alloy) which can be used by amateur and stage magicians to demonstrate "psychic" powers or as a practical joke. Such "self-bending" spoons will bend themselves when used to stir tea, coffee, or any other warm liquid, or even when warmed by body heat.[citation needed] Simply holding a spoon by its neck and rapidly whirling it back and forth can also create the illusion that the spoon is bending, due to the way that the human eye perceives the rocking motion.[18]

See also

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References

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  1. ^abRegal, Brian (2009). "Spoon Bending".Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia.Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp. 153–154.ISBN978-0-313-35508-0.
  2. ^abHurley, Patrick J. (2010).A Concise Introduction to Logic(12th ed.). Boston, Mass.: Cengage Learning. p. 626.ISBN978-1-285-19654-1.
  3. ^"Skeptic Revamps $1M Psychic Prize".Wired.12 January 2007.
  4. ^"Metal Bending".Encyclopedia.Retrieved1 August2021.
  5. ^Gardner, Martin (1991).The New Age: Notes of a Fringe-Watcher.Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. pp. 28–29.ISBN0-87975-644-6.
  6. ^Hasted, John Barrett (1981).The Metal-Benders.London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.ISBN0-7100-0597-0.
  7. ^Randi, James (1982).Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions.Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. p. 221.ISBN978-0-87975-198-2.
  8. ^abcdBlanc, Marcel (16 February 1978)."Fading Spoon Bender".New Scientist.Vol. 77, no. 1090. p. 431.ISSN0262-4079.
  9. ^Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren (1989).Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking(2nd ed.). Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.ISBN0-8058-0508-7.
  10. ^Colman, Andrew (1987).Facts, Fallacies and Frauds in Psychology.London: Unwin Hyman. pp. 195–6.ISBN978-0-09-173041-3.
  11. ^Gardner, Martin (1983).Science: Good, Bad and Bogus.Oxford University Press. pp. 179–184.ISBN0-1928-6037-2.
  12. ^Wiseman, Richard;Greening, Emma. (2005).It's still bending': verbal suggestion and alleged psychokinetic ability.British Journal of Psychology 96: 115–127.doi:10.1348/000712604X15428
  13. ^abJones, Simon (2002). "Geller, Uri". In Shermer, Michael (ed.).The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience, Volume 1.Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp. 113–14.ISBN1-57607-654-7.
  14. ^abEmery, C. Eugene Jr. (1987)."Catching Geller in the Act".The Providence Sunday Journal.Archived fromthe original(Reprint, hosted by permission)on 16 July 2011 – via Psychicinvestigator.
  15. ^James Randi's Solved Mysteries Workshop(DVD video). Altadena, Calif.: The Skeptics Society. 1998.OCLC71299799.
  16. ^Randi, James (19 October 1993). "Secrets of the Psychics".NOVA(Documentary). Boston, Mass.: WGBH Educational Foundation. Event occurs at 8:58.OCLC965134014.
  17. ^Harris, Ben (1985).Gellerism Revealed: The Psychology and Methodology Behind the Geller Effect.Calgary: Mickey Hades International.ISBN0-9192-3092-X.
  18. ^Carey, Benedict(12 August 2008)."While a Magician Works, the Mind Does the Tricks".The New York Times.p. F1.ISSN0362-4331.

Further reading

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