How to Beat Everyone at Rock Paper Scissors

By Li Ken Lau, 2019 Alumni.

Prepare to take on friends and family alike and win forever, in everyone’s favourite game of chance!

Have you ever wondered whether there was a better way to swindle folks in Rock Paper Scissors, other than relying on gut instinct? Yes, dear readers, this week we’ll be delving into the forbidden, eldritch art of reading minds. All you’ll need is a little understanding of biological psychology, so let’s get to it!

(A rather shameless invasion of personal space may also be required, but we’ll get to that.)

Don’t you miss simpler times, when this trick still worked?

Image by luis_molinero, via Freepic

A beginner’s guide to reading minds

Before we go on to dominate the Rock Paper Scissors scene, let’s talk about hormones. Hormones are your body’s chemical messengers; they’re how organs tell each other to do things without being stuck together. In particular, noradrenaline (NA) is one of the hormones responsible for the popular ‘fight or flight’ response. You know the one: it’s what makes you run away when a snake looks at you funny.

However, NA also does two things that you can use to your advantage: firstly, NA levels spike when you’re making decisions. Secondly, increasing NA levels make the pupils of your eyes dilate (which is to say, get wider). Studies have shown that when placed in situations with some sort of gamble on the line, we can reliably notice pupil dilation when you’re unsure of something. To reiterate: NA levels play a key role in decision making, and this in turn correlates with pupil dilation.

The opportunistic readers may now find themselves thinking “hey, doesn’t that mean we can guess what people are thinking by looking into their eyes?” And they would be right! Scientific revolutionaries in Philipps-University (Germany) and the University of Melbourne (Australia) have gone on to show that you can use this trick to read minds in Rock Paper Scissors.

Simply look into someone’s eyes, and slowly repeat “Rock… Paper… Scissors”. When you reach whichever option your dastardly foe has picked, their pupils will dilate, leaving you to cackle manically as you score yet another point. It’s as simple as that!

Here we have the eyes of someone who just picked “Rock”, and is presently bewildered by your underwhelming superpowers.

Image by cmlburnett, via Visual Hunt

Sounds too good to be true?

Naturally, your victory isn’t going to be guaranteed. While the study showed that the ‘mind readers’ went on to win their games at a significantly higher rate than normal, it wasn’t perfect. In fact, pupil dilation has a success rate of roughly 60% in reflecting which decisions people make in Rock Paper Scissors.

Additionally, a person going around staring into people’s eyes, while slowly saying “ROCK. PAPER. SCISSORS” is widely considered a public nuisance. On the other hand, your chances of snatching a victory in the game normally sits at a measly 33%. Depending on the wager hanging in balance, such unfashionable acts may be well worth it to double your chances of victory. However, readers are advised to use this trick in moderation, lest you earn the ire of friends and family alike.

I’m no cheat! What else can I do with this?

On a more serious note, some have gone on to try to use this trick to communicate with people under full body paralysis.

Studies in Belgium have shown that these paralysed patients could actually answer yes/no question rather consistently, just by thinking of the answer while doctors observed their eyes. Better yet, with some practice in directing their mental efforts, the accuracy of their ‘replies’ actually improved! Ideally, this development may pave the way to communicating with these erstwhile inaccessible patients.

In short, not only can looking deep into someone’s eyes help you cheat your way through inconsequential games of chance, perhaps we could someday use this pupil dilation response to talk to patients whom are locked in their own bodies. Now isn’t that a thought?