Cold reading
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In 1948, psychologist Bertram Forer gave a personality test to his students, and then gave them a personality analysis supposedly based on the test's results. He invited each of them to rate the analysis on a scale of 0 (very poor) to 5 (excellent) as it applied to themselves: the average was 4.26. He then revealed that each student had been given the same analysis: | In 1948, psychologist Bertram Forer gave a personality test to his students, and then gave them a personality analysis supposedly based on the test's results. He invited each of them to rate the analysis on a scale of 0 (very poor) to 5 (excellent) as it applied to themselves: the average was 4.26. He then revealed that each student had been given the same analysis: | ||
| − | + | <blockquote>''You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some personality weaknesses you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable unused capacity that you have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an independent thinker; and do not accept others' statements without satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be rather unrealistic.''</blockquote> | |
Forer had assembled this text from [[horoscope]]s. | Forer had assembled this text from [[horoscope]]s. | ||
Revision as of 15:25, 20 November 2009
Cold reading is an attempt to use basic psychology and tricks to appear to know more about something or someone than you really do. The trick is used most notoriously by claimed psychics to appear to have supernatural powers.
Contents |
Cold reading techniques
The Barnum effect
Probably one of the most pervasive techniques in cold reading is the Barnum effect. It is named after PT Barnum, but is also known as the Forer effect, after the psychologist who first described it experimentally. The Barnum effect relies on peoples natural tendency to provide details and specific meanings to generalized statements or events. Ideas can be presented in such a way that they are pretty much true for everyone or are all encompassing (such as "you are an extrovert but often introverted as well"). People do not actually view these statements as generalizations but instead seek out specific examples in their lives that seem to fit and then attribute the person telling them these statements as having known specific details.
In 1948, psychologist Bertram Forer gave a personality test to his students, and then gave them a personality analysis supposedly based on the test's results. He invited each of them to rate the analysis on a scale of 0 (very poor) to 5 (excellent) as it applied to themselves: the average was 4.26. He then revealed that each student had been given the same analysis:
You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some personality weaknesses you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable unused capacity that you have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an independent thinker; and do not accept others' statements without satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be rather unrealistic.
Forer had assembled this text from horoscopes.
Criss Angel (of the TV show Mindfreak) used a similar method to give the exact same tarot card reading to five different people, all of whom said it described them perfectly.
Other statements that are often used in cold reading techniques that rely on the Barnum effect 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."
The Barnum effect is one of the few techniques that really does not require any feedback at all from the victim being read. This lack of a need for feedback leads to the Barnum effect being the most common technique used in written cold readings such as horoscopes.
Shotgunning
Shotgunning is a technique that relies on quickly dumping a huge amount of information and being able to read the victims response. The cold reader will start listing things out in a practiced pattern until he sees what hooks and then focus on that. One of the most famous users of shotgunning is the charlatan John Edward who pretends he can talk to the dead. Using basic knowledge like the fact that people there have had someone die, Edward can go up to someone and start listing possible relationships "Someone here wants to talk to you its a friend, no family member, your uncle, no aunt, sister, grandmother..yes your grandmother." By watching the victims responses the cold reader can zero in on the specific relationship. Once found no one seems to fault the reader for the 25 other guesses that were completely wrong and attributes supernatural skill to the guess.
Fishing
Fishing can feel similar to shotgunning but is more methodical and slow but still revolves around reading the victim. Sylvia Browne makes a lot of use of fishing. Fishing starts by taking an educated guess about situations in your victim's life. How old are they? Are they likely to be going through a transition such as graduating college or retirement? Are they old enough to have parents or grandparents that have died? Do they have a wedding ring on? With a few basic observations the "reader" can move in slowly and drop some bait such as "I see someone behind you, an older person who has passed on, your father maybe?" The reader waits and sees the response. The victim will almost never sit there in silence, but will reveal some information. If the victim appears hesitant the fisher will quickly move on using the shotgun technique till they hit on something. Once something is hit on, the fisher can use common statistical information to really appear to be psychic, such as the fact that most people die involving something in their chest or gut or throat. "He is pointing towards his chest, maybe stomach or throat even, did he die of some complications involving any of those regions?" Whenever the victim gives information, the fisher will respond as if he knew it all along. For example if the victim had said "yes, he died of a heart attack" the fish will say "oh yes, he is pointing at his heart."
List of people who use cold reading to con people
- John Edward
- Sylvia Browne
- Derek Ogilvie
- Edgar Cayce (well, he used to. Isn't he dead now?)
- James Van Praagh
- Colin Fry
- Your typical country fair "psychic"