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READING MINDS Derren Brown WHAT IT ALL MEANS The basis of all persuasive technique and mind control effects is rapport. This concept has been blown out of all proportion by gurus in the therapy andmanagement training fields, but a basic understanding of what it means is worth having. RAPPORT Having rapport with somebody means that the two of you are enjoying easy company with each other, andusually implies that you are acting and talking in similar ways. I'm sure you've had the experience of getting on with somebody very quickly and soon finding that you both seem to know where the other iscoming from. By contrast, we've all endured trying to hold a conversation with someone who just doesn't seem to click with anything we have to say. Since the 1970s, rapport has been studied andturned into a highpowered 'skill' that supposedly can be learned and then turned on when a person wishes to gain persuasive influence over somebody. The theory works like this: people in rapport with eachother tend to mirror each other's body language, use similar speech patterns and even breathe and blink at the same rate – the outward signs of a comfortable and freeflowing interaction. Certainlythis is true – if you shift position during a conversation with a friend, you'll find that he or she will soon follow to keep that unconscious rapport going. Similarly, you may be aware that you talk oract a little differently with one group of people than you do with another. You do this to allow what you have in common with each group to

flourish and so ensure that your rapport with them ismaintained. MIRRORING However, the gurus in this field then say that, by consciously showing the outward signs of rapport – that is, by deliberately mirroring someone's body language and feeding backtheir vocabulary, ideas and breathing rate – you will automatically create rapport and really put the other person at ease. Despite its twisted logic, this sounds plausible – but, in practice, you are...