Psychology & Social Engineering in the Media: “Computer Repair/Psychic”

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Nathan For You is a Comedy Central show that aired from 2013 to 2017. The premise of the show is simple. A business is struggling so Nathan consults for the business. Nathan usually gives a new way for the business to operate or helps the business get more customers. Nathan’s methods are unorthodox and help improve visibility of the business.

Season 4 Episode 6 is titled “Computer Repair/Psychic”. Most episodes Nathan consults on two businesses, in this episode, one is a computer repair shop and the other business is a Psychic. I’ll mainly be talking about the latter business.

To help the Psychic “drum up” her business, Nathan puts out a billboard and radio ads, urging “Maria Garcia” to visit the psychic, as the psychic had a “vision about Maria Garcia”. Nathan notes, although “Maria Garcia” may sound as if it’s appealing to one person only, there are more than a thousand people named “Maria Garcia” that live in California, where the episode takes place. A side plot of this episode is the first new customer is told she will have a chance encounter with a new love. Nathan socially engineers this by telling a production assistant about the new customer. Nathan also gets the production assistant to pose as a make-up artist to the new customer. So while the new customer now thinks the psychic’s prediction was correct, Nathan had deceptively organized it.

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Psychics and the billboard tactic used fall under the cognitive bias known as the Barnum effect. According to The Decision Lab, the Barnum effect “describes when individuals believe that generic information, which could apply to anyone, applies specifically to themselves”. Through psychics this is illustrated through personal yet vague readings that can be easily generalized to apply to the client or others. In the billboard, this is seen by the business it got the psychic. The use of person’s first and last name in an ad. Nathan states “over 100 Maria Garcias had contacted the psychic” by the end of the episode.

Social engineering is also shown through the Psychic’s first new customer. This Maria Garcia, is told by the psychic she will have a chance encounter with a new love. Nathan interviews Maria and sees that she doesn’t believe the psychic’s prediction. In order to change Maria’s perception, Nathan arranges a fake chance encounter, with his production assistant helping him. After this, the new customer now is more confident in the psychic and more liable to be a returning customer to the psychic.

The Design Lab also points to personalized content on apps such as Spotify or Netflix as examples of the Barnum Effect. The Decision Lab writes, “Though the seemingly customized products give users a sense that the applications cater to each individual, in reality, the different digital companies offer vague personalized services to each of their clients. Yes, machine learning aids in developing these general recommendations, but this is also paired with the Barnum effect to deliver customized products successfully.” This is an excellent observation and good correlation on how machine learning could be misconstrued with the Barnum Effect. Thanks for reading.