A scientific study reported on in the Times Online UK (here [1]) and in the BBC News (here [2]) suggests that by reading Agatha Christie you become hypnotized. Mesmerized by her repetitive phrases, the study claims that your brain secretes, in Skinner box [3] fashion, “the chemical messengers… that induce pleasure and satisfaction”.

Bloggers however, disagree (Link [4]. Another Link [5].) They accuse Dr. Roland Kapferer of making comments on the science while he actually works as a television producer for an Agatha Christie documentary, which recently aired in Britain, celebrating the “75th anniversary of one of her most famous creations, Miss Marple”. (Link [6].)

The data for the study was compiled by Dr. Markus Dahl, a research fellow at the University of London Institute of English Studies who, according to blogger Ray Girvan [7], boasts a reputable track record in the computer analysis of texts to determine authorship. Linguistic patterns were compiled from Christie’s texts, Neurolinguistic Programming [8] (NLP) techniques were applied, and the Agatha Christie trance theory emerged.

After watching the television documentary, Blogger Ray Girvan elucidated the hypnotic technique:

Repetition of key concepts over small spaces (e.g “life”, “living”, “live”, “death” in a couple of paragraphs) consolidated concepts in the reader’s mind… [According to NLP theory] we can only hold nine concepts in the mind at once… [and] Christie’s use of more than nine characters overloads the reader’s conscious mind, making them literally go into a trance.

So whodunnit? Did Agatha kill us with a Scooby snack in the text? Or did the father of NLP, Dr. Richard Bandler [9], do it by suggestion through the BBC publishing monopoly? My bet—Dr. Roland Kapferer did it as a free agent. My clue?—It’s A Small World After All, Or, Consultancy And The Disneyfication Of Thought [10] by Roland Kapferer.

Photo source: nndb.com [11]