‘Real life Jedi mind trick’ used by FBI helps waiters to get more tips

We all want to earn a bit of extra cash right now.

If you work in hospitality though, you may be in luck as one content creator has revealed a clever psychology trick to double your tip.

If that weren’t impressive enough, the tactic is also used by the FBI with the agency describing it as a ‘real life Jedi mind trick’.

In a now-viral video on TikTok, user @citzenscientist, also known as Dillon Brooks, explained the method.

According to the content creator, a waitress was eager to up the amount of tips she received so ran a small experiment.

During her shift, she used two psychological methods, positive reinforcement and mirroring, to see which was more effective at boosting her bank balance.

For those who didn’t study A-level psychology, positive reinforcement is when you reward behaviour with encouragement or rewards.

As people ordered, the waitress would cheerily respond with ‘great choice’ or ‘no problem’ – showing how willing she was to serve the customers.

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Mirroring, as the name suggests, means you ‘mirror’ a person’s behaviour back to them, be it through gestures, language or even clothing choices.

This means that the waitress would simply repeat the customer’s order back to them, which led to a staggering result.

Reportedly, the waitress gained 70 per cent more tips with mirroring - which is almost double her usual rate.

Brooks went on to explain why this has become so popular with FBI agents, who regularly use it in the field.

The TikToker revealed that agents often refer to mirroring as a ‘real life Jedi mind trick’, as it’s an insane quick way to connect with someone.

He told his followers: “You see by repeating back what some says, you trigger their biological need to connect.”

“You trigger trust, a sense of security and you make them actually want to build a relationship with you,” Brooks added.

This surprising bit of trivia has gone viral, with over 591,000 people watching the short clip and many sharing their shock in the comments.

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“I thought I did this to get everything clear thorough and over with 😂 people like it tho they def respond well to this,” wrote one shocked server.

Meanwhile, another added: “Great content! I'm going to share this with my daughter who works at Starbucks.”

Here’s hoping more hospitality staff are able to cash in on this psychology hack!

Topics: TikTok, Viral, Food And Drink, Weird

Katherine Sidnell

Katherine is an entertainment journalist with a love of all things nerdy. Starting out writing Doctor Who fan fiction as a kid, she has gone on to interview the likes of Matt Damon, James May and Dua Lipa to name a few. Published in The Sun, The Daily Mail and Evening Standard - she now joins Ladbible as resident nerd in chief.

@ksidnell