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Cold reading is often a technique used by Fortune tellers, Tarot card readers, mediums, magicians etc. to convince another person that the reader knows much more about a subject than he actually does. Even without prior knowledge of a person, a practiced cold reader can still quickly obtain a great deal of information about the subject by carefully analyzing the person's body language, clothing or fashion, hairstyle, gender, sexual orientation, religion, race or ethnicity, level of education, manner of speech, place of origin, etc. Cold readers commonly employ high probability guesses about the subject, quickly picking up on signals from their subjects as to whether their guesses are in the right direction or not, and then emphasizing and reinforcing any chance connections the subjects acknowledge while quickly moving on from missed guesses. For example the "reader" may make a guess if right reinforces it but if wrong the reader senses it and quickly corrects him/herself stating something such as "...I am getting a little interference" and the and the "readé" excuses it. Cold reading is a term used by actors and others in theatre, television, film, and performance fields. ... Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... For prophecy in the context of revealed religions see Prophet. ... This article is about the general history, iconography, and uses of tarot cards. ... Mediumship is a term used to refer to a person who claims to communicate with spirits of the deceased and passes on messages from the spirit world or Heaven to people on earth. ... Magician redirects here. ... For other uses, see Body language (disambiguation). ... Clothing protects the vulnerable nude human body from the extremes of weather, other features of our environment, and for safety reasons. ... For other uses, see Fashion (disambiguation). ... “Haircut” redirects here. ... Gender in common usage refers to the sexual distinction between male and female. ... Sexual orientation refers to the direction of an individuals sexuality, usually conceived of as classifiable according to the sex or gender of the persons whom the individual finds sexually attractive. ... For other uses, see Race (disambiguation). ... This article or section should be merged with ethnic group Ethnicity is the cultural characteristics that connect a particular group or groups of people to each other. ... Bold text This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Basic procedure

Before starting the actual reading, the reader will typically try to elicit cooperation from his subject, saying something like, "I often see images that are a bit unclear and which may sometimes mean more to you than to me; if you help, we can together uncover new things about you." One of the most crucial elements of a convincing cold reading is a credulous subject eager to make connections or reinterpret vague statements in any way that will help the reader appear to have made specific predictions or intuitions. While the reader will do most of the talking, it is the subject who provides the meaning.

After assuring that the subject will play along, the reader will make a number of probing statements or questions, typically using variations of the methods noted below. The subject will then reveal further information with their replies (whether verbal or non-verbal) and the cold reader can continue from there, pursuing promising lines of inquiry and very quickly abandoning or avoiding unproductive ones. In general, while only some of the information comes from the reader, most of the facts and statements come from the subject, and are then refined and restated by the reader so as to reinforce the idea that the reader got something correct.

Even very subtle cues such as changes in facial expression or body language can indicate if a particular line of questioning is effective or not. Combining the techniques of cold reading with information obtained covertly (also called "hot reading") can leave a strong, but false, impression that the reader knows or has access to a great deal of information about the subject. Because the majority of time during a reading is spent dwelling on the "hits" the reader is able to obtain, while the time spent recognizing "misses" is minimized, the effect is to give an impression that the cold reader knows far more about the subject than any ordinary stranger could. Photographs from the 1862 book Mécanisme de la Physionomie Humaine by Guillaume Duchenne. ... For other uses, see Body language (disambiguation). ... In parapsychology, hot reading is the use of foreknowledge when giving a psychic reading. ...

Other cold reading techniques

The most comprehensive book on how to perform Cold Reading techniques is The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading by British illusionist Ian Rowland. In this book he discusses over twenty different techniques including The Rainbow Ruse, Fine Flattery and Barnum Statements. Ian Rowland is a mentalist who lives in London, England. ...

Shotgunning

"Shotgunning" is a commonly-used cold reading technique, allegedly used by purported television psychics and spiritual mediums: Edgar Cayce, Sylvia Browne, James Van Praagh, Colin Fry and John Edward in particular have all been accused by skeptics of using shotgunning techniques in their stage and television shows. The psychic or reader quickly offers a huge quantity of very general information, often to an entire audience (some of which is very likely to be correct, near correct or at the very least, provocative or evocative to someone present), observes their subjects' reactions (especially their body language), and then narrows the scope, acknowledging particular people or concepts and refining the original statements according to those reactions to promote an emotional response. Edgar Cayce (March 18, 1877 – January 3, 1945) (pronounced or like Casey) was an American who claimed psychic abilities. ... Sylvia Browne (born October 19, 1936) is a bestselling American author on the subject of spirituality who is known as a psychic and medium. ... James Van Praagh (b. ... Colin Fry (1962 - 25th April 2007) was an English tele-medium. ... John Edward McGee, Jr. ... Skepticism (Commonwealth spelling: Scepticism) can mean: Philosophical skepticism - a philosophical position in which people choose to critically examine whether the knowledge and perceptions that they have are actually true, and whether or not one can ever be said to have absolutely true knowledge; or Scientific skepticism - a scientific, or practical...

This technique is named after a shotgun, as it fires a spray of small projectiles in the hope that one or more of the shots will strike the target. A majority of people in a room will, at some point for example, have lost an older relative or known at least one person with a common name like "Mike" or "John". For other uses, see Shotgun (disambiguation). ...

Shotgunning might include a series of vague statements such as:

• "I see a heart problem with a father-figure in your family, a father, a grandfather, an uncle, a cousin... I'm definitively seeing chest pain here for a father-figure in your family."
• "I see a woman that isn't a blood relative. Someone around when you were growing up, an aunt, a friend of your mother, a step-mother with blackness in the chest, lung cancer, heart disease, breast cancer..."
• "I sense an older male figure in your life, who wants you to know whilst you may have had disagreements in your life, he still loved you."

The Forer effect/Barnum statements

"Barnum statements" named after P.T. Barnum, the American showman, may also be used. These statements seem personal, yet apply to many people. And while seemingly specific, such statements are often open-ended or give the reader the maximum amount of "wriggle room" in a reading. They are designed to elicit identifying responses from people. The statements can then be developed into longer and more sophisticated paragraphs and seem to reveal great amounts of detail about a person. The effect relies in part on the eagerness of people to fill in details and make connections between what is said and some aspect of their own lives (often searching their entire life's history to find some connection, or reinterpreting the statement in any number of different possible ways so as to make it apply to themselves). A talented and charismatic reader can sometimes even bully a subject into admitting a connection, demanding over and over that they acknowledge a particular statement as having some relevance and maintaining that they just aren't thinking hard enough, or are repressing some important memory. Many skeptics believe the popularity of horoscopes (and astrology in general) is due to the Forer Effect. ... Phineas Taylor Barnum (July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891), American showman who is best remembered for his entertaining hoaxes and for founding the circus that eventually became Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. ...

Statements of this type might include:

• "I sense that you are sometimes insecure, especially with people you don't know very well."
• "You have a box of old unsorted photographs in your house."
• "You had an accident when you were a child involving water."
• "You're having problems with a friend or relative."
• "Your father passed on due to problems in his chest or abdomen."

If the subject is old enough, his or her father is quite likely to be dead, and this statement would easily apply to a number of conditions such as heart disease, pneumonia, diabetes, most forms of cancer, and in fact to a great majority of causes of death.

The rainbow ruse

The rainbow ruse is a crafted statement which simultaneously awards the subject with a specific personality trait, as well as the opposite of that trait. With such a phrase, a cold reader can "cover all possibilities" and appear to have made an accurate deduction in the mind of the subject, despite the fact that a rainbow ruse statement is vague and contradictory. This technique is used since personality traits are not quantifiable, and also because nearly everybody has experienced both sides of a particular emotion at some time in their lives.

Statements of this type might include:

• "Most of the time you are positive and cheerful, but there has been a time in the past where you were very upset."
• "You are a very kind and considerate person, but when somebody does something to break your trust, you feel deep-seated anger."
• "I would say that you are mostly shy and quiet, but when the mood strikes you, you can easily become the center of attention."

A cold reader can choose from a variety of personality traits, think of its opposite, and then bind the two together in a phrase, vaguely linked by factors such as mood, time, or potential.

Magicians, psychics, and cold reading

Performers such as Lynne Kelly, Kari Coleman,^[1] Ian Rowland and Derren Brown have used these techniques at either private fortune-telling sessions or open forum "talking with the dead" sessions in the manner of mediums such as John Edward and Sylvia Browne. Only after receiving acclaim and applause from their audience do they reveal that they needed no psychic power for the performance, only a sound knowledge of psychology and cold reading.^{[citation needed]} Many famous psychics, on the other hand, claim that their abilities stem from paranormal means, and deny that they are employing cold reading techniques. Kari Coleman is a critically acclaimed television actress known for her work in television in the 1990s and 2000s. ... Ian Rowland is a mentalist who lives in London, England. ... Derren Victor Brown (born 27 February 1971) is an English psychological illusionist, mentalist, and skeptic of paranormal phenomena. ... Mediumship is a term used mostly in Spiritualism to denote the ability of a person (the medium) to produce psychic phenomena of a mental or physical nature. ... John Edward McGee, Jr. ... Sylvia Browne (born October 19, 1936) is a bestselling American author on the subject of spirituality who is known as a psychic and medium. ... Parapsychology is the study of the evidence involving phenomena where a person seems to affect or gain information about something through a means not currently explainable within the framework of mainstream, conventional science. ... Paranormal is an umbrella term used to describe a wide variety of reported anomalous phenomena. ...

In an episode of his Trick of the Mind series broadcast in March 2006, Derren Brown demonstrated how easily people can be influenced through cold reading techniques by repeating the famous experiment in 1948, by psychologist Bertram R. Forer. Derren Victor Brown (born 27 February 1971) is an English psychological illusionist, mentalist, and skeptic of paranormal phenomena. ... Derren Victor Brown (born 27 February 1971) is an English psychological illusionist, mentalist, and skeptic of paranormal phenomena. ... Many skeptics believe the popularity of horoscopes (and astrology in general) is due to the Forer Effect. ... Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A psychologist is a person who studies psychology, the systematic investigation of the human mind, including behavior, cognition, and affect. ... Bertram R. Forer (24 October 1914—6 April 2000) was an American psychologist best known for describing the Forer effect, also known as subjective validation. ...

Subconscious cold reading

People who are naturally good at personal observations can unwittingly conduct readings demonstrably based on cold reading without a deliberate attempt at deception. Cold reading in this context could also simply be "knowledge of the world." Consider the case of a taxi driver in Las Vegas, where innumerable professional conventions have provided him with the opportunity to gauge the characteristic group style and demeanor of entire occupations. Knowing the six big conventions on at the moment, as a party of five enters his cab, he can tell the wound continence nurses from the scuba divers, the phytopathologists from the pilots, the doctors from the police chiefs, without recourse to anything but his personal experience.

Former New Age practitioner Karla McLaren said, "I didn't understand that I had long used a form of cold reading in my own work! I was never taught cold reading and I never intended to defraud anyone; I simply picked up the technique through cultural osmosis." McLaren has further stated that since she was always very perceptive, she could easily figure out many of the issues her "readees" brought into sessions with them. In order to reduce the appearance of unusual expertise that might have created a power differential, she posed her observations as questions rather than facts. This attempt to be polite, she realized, actually invited the readee to, as McLaren has said, "lean into the reading" and give her more pertinent information.^[2] New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. ... Karla McLaren is an author and former metaphysical/New Age speaker. ...

After a person has done hundreds of readings their skills may improve to the point where they may start believing they can read minds, asking themselves if their success is because of psychology, intuition or a psychic ability.^[3] This point of thought is known by some skeptics of the paranormal as the transcendental temptation.^[4] Magic historian and occult investigator Milbourne Christopher warned the transcendental choice may lead one unknowingly into a belief in the occult and a deterioration of reason.^[5] Milbourne Christopher (1914 - 1984) was one of Americas foremost illusionists, performing in sixty-eight countries. ...

Cold reading in movies and on television

• The Wizard of Oz (1939). Professor Marvel (Frank Morgan) does a cold reading on Dorothy (Judy Garland) in an effort to urge her to return home.
• Nightmare Alley (1947). Depicted ex-carny and aspiring cult leader Stanton Carlisle (Tyrone Power) using cold reading and other mentalist techniques to convince people he can communicate with the dead. Although the presentation is clumsy, the technique of cold reading is referred to by name. The film was based on the William Lindsay Gresham novel of the same name.
• Leap of Faith (1992). Early in the film, revival tent evangelist and phony faith healer Jonas Nightengale (Steve Martin) uses cold reading on a police officer who has pulled over his tour bus, to dissuade him from writing a ticket.
• South Park (2002). In the episode "The Biggest Douche in the Universe," the gang encounters famous medium John Edward. Stan is angered at the crowd's willingness to believe Edward has any psychic ability at all, and throughout the remainder of the episode he tries to prove that Edward merely uses cold reading to trick people by demonstrating to Kyle, only to be mistaken by passers-by for a gifted child psychic himself. Stan then faces off against Edward in a "psychic showdown" on TV to disprove him once and for all, but then Edward is taken by extraterrestrials and given the dubious award of "The Biggest Douche in the Universe."
• Hustle (2005). BBC series about a group of grifters in London. In Series 2 Episode 1, Albert Stroller and Danny Blue mention using cold reading in order to get a mark interested in business.
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2005). In the episode "Pure," a sexual predator (Martin Short) uses cold reading, as well as the Facial Action Coding System and his inside knowledge of a crime he committed, to masquerade as a psychic detective offering his services to the victim's family and the police.
• House (2006). In the episode "House vs. God," Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) treats a teenage faith healer (Thomas Dekker) who he believes is just cold reading and exciting people into thinking they are cured until the endorphins from the experience wear off. Dr. House himself frequently uses cold reading techniques to diagnose his patients and pry into his co-workers' private lives.
• Sherlock Holmes can be seen as an expert cold reader, which he uses to find clues.
• Psych (2007). The main character in Psych uses cold reading to convince detectives that he has psychic abilities, while actually using logic and reason to solve cases.

The Wizard of Oz (film) redirects here. ... Professor Marvel is a fictional character from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. ... Frank Morgan as The Wizard of Oz. ... Doctor Who character, see Ace (Doctor Who). ... Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922 - June 22, 1969) was an Academy Award-nominated American film actress and singer, best known for her role as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939). ... Nightmare Alley is a 20th Century Fox film noir released in 1947. ... For other uses, see Carny (disambiguation). ... This article does not discuss cult in its original meaning. ... Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. ... This article is about the performing art. ... William Lindsay Gresham. ... Leap of Faith is 1992 comedy-drama film about a fake Christian faith healer who uses a fraudulent traveling revival show to bilk believers of the money. ... A revival meeting is a series of Christian religious services held with an eye to encourage active members of a religious body and to provoke those outside of it to become part of it. ... Look up evangelist in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Faith healing is the use of supernatural or spiritual intervention to cure disease. ... For other uses, see Steve Martin (disambiguation). ... This article is about the TV series. ... The Biggest Douche in the Universe is episode 615 of the Comedy Central animated series South Park. ... Mediumship is a term used mostly in Spiritualism to denote the ability of a person (the medium) to produce psychic phenomena of a mental or physical nature. ... John Edward McGee, Jr. ... Stanley Stan Marsh is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. ... Kyle Broflovski, also spelled Kyle Broflofski, Kyle Broflowski, Kyle Brovlofski, Kyle Broflofki, or in the earlier episodes, Kyle Brosloski, is a fictional character in the animated series South Park. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Hustle is a British television comedy-drama series made by Kudos Film & Television for BBC One in the United Kingdom. ... Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - Season 5 DVD Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (also known as Law & Order: SVU) is the first of three spin-offs of Law & Order (the other two being Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: Trial by Jury; all series are presented on the NBC... The term sexual predator is used pejoratively about a person who is seen as obtaining or trying to obtain sexual intercourse in a metaphorically predatory manner. ... Martin Hayter Short, CM (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian/American comedian, actor, writer, and producer. ... Facial Action Coding System (FACS) is a system originally developed by Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen in 1976, to taxonomize every conceivable human facial expression. ... This article is about psychics. ... House, also known as House, M.D., is an American medical drama television series created by David Shore and executive produced by Shore and film director Bryan Singer. ... House vs. ... Dr. Gregory House, M.D., is a fictional character and protagonist of the Fox medical drama House. ... James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE (born June 11, 1959) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and musician. ... Thomas Alexander Dekker (born 28 December 1987, in Las Vegas, Nevada) is an American film and television actor. ... For other uses, see Endorphin (disambiguation). ... A portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget from the Strand Magazine, 1891 Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. ... Psych is an American comedy-drama series billed as a fake psychic, real detective series starring James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young police consultant whose eidetic memory leads people to believe that hes psychic. ...

See also

• Hot reading
• Clever Hans
• Forer effect
• Arthur Ford
• James Pike
• John Edward
• James Randi

In parapsychology, hot reading is the use of foreknowledge when giving a psychic reading. ... Clever Hans performs Clever Hans (in German, der Kluge Hans) was a horse that was apparently trained to perform arithmetic and other intellectual tasks. ... Many skeptics believe the popularity of horoscopes (and astrology in general) is due to the Forer Effect. ... Arthur Ford (January 8, 1896 – January 4, 1971) was an American psychic spiritual medium, clairaudient and in 1955 founded the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship. ... James Albert Pike (February 14, 1913 - September 1969) was an American Episcopal bishop, prolific writer, and one of the first mainline religious figures to appear regularly on television. ... John Edward McGee, Jr. ... James Randi (born August 7, 1928), stage name The Amazing Randi, is a stage magician and scientific skeptic best known as a challenger of paranormal claims and pseudoscience. ...

References

Printed publications

1. ^ Kari Coleman (2001). "My Psychic Adventure". Swift 2 (3&4). Retrieved on 2006-12-11. 
2. ^ Karla McLaren (May 2004). "Bridging the Chasm between Two Cultures". Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved on 2006-12-11. 
3. ^ Paramiracles by Ted Lesley, Hermetic Press, 1994
4. ^ The Transcendental Temptation by Paul Kurtz, Prometheus books, 1986
5. ^ ESP, Seers & Psychics: What the Occult Really is by Milbourne Christopher, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1970

Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 11 is the 345th day of the year (346th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 11 is the 345th day of the year (346th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• The Art of Cold Reading - James Randi Educational Foundation

• Cold Reading - Skeptic's Dictionary

• Cold Reading - Skeptic Friends Network

• Cold Reading: The Psychic's True Power - Robert Novella

• The Cold Reading Technique - Denis Dutton

• Forer Effect - Skeptic's Dictionary

• Guide to Cold Reading - Ray Hyman

• How come TV psychics seem so convincing? - The Straight Dope

• Psychic sophistry - Tony Youens

• Shotgunning - Skeptic's Dictionary

• The Skeptic's Guide To The Paranormal - Lynne Kelly

• What is Cold Reading? Skeptical Perspectives - Austin Cline, About.com

• Psychic Skeptic Skeptic Karen Stollznow uses cold reading to earn a job as a 'psychic'.