Religion and the Idea that Someone’s Watching | Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

Duration: 5'57''

Synopsis

Derren Brown demonstrates that even the idea of a supernatural presence causes people to modify their behaviour, and argues that this psychology forms the basis for religion as a means to control behaviour.

Further Information

More clips from Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

An Innate Tendency to Believe | Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

An Innate Tendency to Believe | Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

Channel 4 | 2012 | 3'34''

Derren Brown performs an experiment on his audience to demonstrate our innate tendency towards belief, even for ...

Episode 2 | Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

Episode 2 | Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

Channel 4 | 2012 | 47'31''

Stunts and psychological tricks from illusionist Derren Brown.

An Innate Tendency to Believe | Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

An Innate Tendency to Believe | Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

Channel 4 | 2012 | 3'34''

Derren Brown performs an experiment on his audience to demonstrate our innate tendency towards belief, even for ...

Episode 2 | Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

Episode 2 | Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

Channel 4 | 2012 | 47'31''

Stunts and psychological tricks from illusionist Derren Brown.

An Innate Tendency to Believe | Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

An Innate Tendency to Believe | Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

Channel 4 | 2012 | 3'34''

Derren Brown performs an experiment on his audience to demonstrate our innate tendency towards belief, even for ...

Episode 2 | Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

Episode 2 | Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

Channel 4 | 2012 | 47'31''

Stunts and psychological tricks from illusionist Derren Brown.

An Innate Tendency to Believe | Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

An Innate Tendency to Believe | Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

Channel 4 | 2012 | 3'34''

Derren Brown performs an experiment on his audience to demonstrate our innate tendency towards belief, even for ...

Episode 2 | Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

Episode 2 | Derren Brown: Fear and Faith

Channel 4 | 2012 | 47'31''

Stunts and psychological tricks from illusionist Derren Brown.

More resources about Philosophy and Ethics

How to Kill a Human Being | Horizon

How to Kill a Human Being | Horizon

BBC Two | 2008 | 49'13''

Michael Portillo pushes his body to the brink of death in an investigation into the science of execution.

Abortion On Trial

Abortion On Trial

BBC Two | 2017 | 59'10''

Fifty years after the Abortion Act was passed, Anne Robinson brings together a group of people with conflicting views on abortion to ask if the law is fit ...

A Short Stay in Switzerland

A Short Stay in Switzerland

BBC One | 2009 | 1'29'43''

One-off drama inspired by the true story of Dr Anne Turner, who in 2006 took her own life in a Zurich clinic having developed an incurable degene...

Humza: Forgiving the Unforgivable

Humza: Forgiving the Unforgivable

BBC One | 2023 | 58'06''

What happens when your instincts tell you to seek revenge, but your faith demands that you forgive? YouTuber and comedian Humza Arshad expl...

Malala: Shot for Going to School | Panorama

Malala: Shot for Going to School | Panorama

BBC One | 2013 | 29'20''

One year ago, Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban on her school bus. In this Panorama special, she talks exclusively to Mish...

Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die

Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die

BBC Two | 2011 | 59'10''

Author Sir Terry Pratchett - an Alzheimer's sufferer - travels to the Dignitas Clinic in Switzerland and witnesses first-hand the procedures...

Anti-Abortion Camp | Brainwashing Stacey

Anti-Abortion Camp | Brainwashing Stacey

BBC One | 2017 | 45'37''

Stacey Dooley travels to California to meet Survivors, one of America's most extreme anti-abortion groups, to learn about their acti...

Faith Behind Bars

Faith Behind Bars

BBC One | 2018 | 38'46''

With access to HMP Edinburgh, this film follows the prison chaplains as they give spiritual guidance and religious support to offenders - including those c...

Shot for Going to School

Shot for Going to School

BBC Three | 2013 | 56'58''

Schoolgirl Malala Yousafi was just 14 when she was shot for campaigning for girls' education in Pakistan. Nel Hedayat travels to the areas where the...

Better Off Dead?

Better Off Dead?

BBC One | 2024 | 58'01''

A documentary on assisted suicide, authored by actor and disability rights activist Liz Carr.

Should assisted suicide be legalised? | Matters of Life and Death

Should assisted suicide be legalised? | Matters of Life and Death

BBC Two | 2015 | 12'21''

This film looks at the viewpoints of Charlotte and Paul whose life experiences have left them on opposing s...

Background to Christian forgiveness | What's the Point of Forgiveness?

Background to Christian forgiveness | What's the Point of Forgiveness?

BBC One | 2011 | 3'60''

An introduction to the ancient context in which Jesus first preached about forgiveness.

Christian forgiveness and the Crusades | What's the Point of Forgiveness?

Christian forgiveness and the Crusades | What's the Point of Forgiveness?

BBC One | 2011 | 6'10''

Bettany Hughes explains how forgiveness was understood during the Crusades.

Did Darwin Kill God?

Did Darwin Kill God?

BBC Two | 2009 | 59'16''

Conor Cunningham is a Christian and a firm believer in Darwin's theory of evolution. He attempts to overturn the view that Darwin's ideas have weakened ...

Euthanasia | Worlds of Belief

Euthanasia | Worlds of Belief

BBC Two | 1997 | 19'01''

Schools religious education program for 14-18 year olds. Today's theme is Euthanasia which includes a dramatic reconstruction of real events, i...

IVF | How Science Changed Our World

IVF | How Science Changed Our World

BBC One | 2010 | 3'18''

Professor Robert Winston meets families who benefitted from breakthrough's in research which lead to IVF treatments.

Kids with Guns | Stacey Dooley

Kids with Guns | Stacey Dooley

BBC Three | 2010 | 57'10''

Stacey Dooley explores the issue of child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo's civil war, where an estimated 30,000 children have be...

Let Our Dad Die | Dispatches

Let Our Dad Die | Dispatches

Channel 4 | 2012 | 27'55''

Seven years ago Tony Nicklinson had a catastrophic stroke, which left him utterly paralysed. He can only communicate via a computer controlled b...

Will Britain Ever Have a Black Prime Minister?

Will Britain Ever Have a Black Prime Minister?

BBC Two | 2016 | 58'57''

British TV and movie star David Harewood investigates the obstacles facing black Britons in rising to positions of power and i...

1: Execution | Life and Death Row

1: Execution | Life and Death Row

BBC Three | 2014 | 58'23''

Series telling the story of capital punishment through the eyes of young people whose lives have been shaped by it. It looks at two of the ...