How do mentalists do what they apparently do?

[welshdean]

If you want to know about cold reading the classic book is by Ian Rowland. He takes you through exactly how it works. Very interesting book - used to be hard to get hold of but perhaps in this digital age it has got easier? ETA Doesn't seem to be an ebook version: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Full-Facts...easy-to,, negotiation, management and therapy.

ETA1: There is a review of the book here: http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90744

Here is a much cheaper option.

 

[Trebuchet]

Single word answer to the OP: Deception.

 

[Thermal]

I think there's a fairly common trick of having a confederate collecting information from the crowd, weather by mulling around beforehand and listening to whatever conversations reveal something, or if paid seating, by googling the names of the ticket buyers. The mentalist nowadays might have one of those combo microphone and earpiece things that the confederate can feed information to the performer while on stage. That way the subject is a real and unknowing audience member

 

[Spektator]

I think there's a fairly common trick of having a confederate collecting information from the crowd, weather by mulling around beforehand and listening to whatever conversations reveal something, or if paid seating, by googling the names of the ticket buyers. The mentalist nowadays might have one of those combo microphone and earpiece things that the confederate can feed information to the performer while on stage. That way the subject is a real and unknowing audience member

Peter Popoff, for instance.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

If you want to know about cold reading the classic book is by Ian Rowland. He takes you through exactly how it works. Very interesting book - used to be hard to get hold of but perhaps in this digital age it has got easier? ETA Doesn't seem to be an ebook version: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Full-Facts...easy-to,, negotiation, management and therapy.

ETA1: There is a review of the book here: http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90744

The last time I checked the book was out of print and copies quite expensive.

Additionally, Ian used to have a website that had some videos of his acts. But that seems to had disappeared too. There was at least one good one of "marks" responding with amazement to having their secrets revealed. ISTR they were even more amazed when Ian explained the tricks involved.

He seems to have lost or dropped the domain name at some point as it is now owned by a different "Ian Rowland". Searching the Wayback Machine for "ianrowland.com" for a date in 2008 shows the page more as I remembered it.

If you want to know how mentalism is "done", there are a slew of YouTube videos that explain how it is done. It's not just cold reading.

A start is here: Penn and Teller Reveal The Secret To Pulling Off A Mentalist Trick

(Actually P & T do not explain too much but the host of show goes on to actually get trained in the magic art.)

 

[marting]

If you want to know about cold reading the classic book is by Ian Rowland.

Great book. Also stuff by Cialdini which blends into Ian's specifics. First ran across Cialdini when he gave a lecture at Beckman many decades ago. Followed his influence psych stuff since.

From Section 2: How Cold Reading Works
"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those who have not got it." -GBS

 

[ferd burfle]

John Edward has made a very successful career out of public performances of mentalism, including cold reading among other techniques.

<snipped for brevity >

I think there's a fairly common trick of having a confederate collecting information from the crowd, weather by mulling around beforehand and listening to whatever conversations reveal something, or if paid seating, by googling the names of the ticket buyers. The mentalist nowadays might have one of those combo microphone and earpiece things that the confederate can feed information to the performer while on stage. That way the subject is a real and unknowing audience member

As I recall, John Edward in his TV series had the audience seated well before he came onstage. Microphones on long cables were arrayed over the audience so they could pick up audience chatter, including folks discussing what they would ask Edward about during the taping. There may have been shills planted in the audience to help elicit details that could be noted by Edward and staff backstage.

The audience members weren’t plants, as far as I could tell, and they produced genuine emotional reactions to Edward's “revelations”, some of them gut-wrenching. IMO the guy was/is scum.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Surely this is how it's done?

Probably the best celebrity psychic on the circuit.

 

[Craig4]

Found these discussions online, on cold reading in general, and about Ian Rowland's book.

Haven't actually listened to them yet, just (very briefly) checked out some random portions of each to see what they're about. None seem very ...engaging, their format I mean to say, the presentation ---- well for one thing, they're audio only ---- but as far as their content, hopefully they'll not be bad, and maybe actually cover some specifics from Rowland. I'll check them out later when I have time. Meantime the links, put out here as reminder to myself, as well as anyone else who might want to check them out:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zICaET0r8UE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvr6AqHOwcI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcGjiLVcZKo



eta:

Also, came across this other title: weird name, but it's about cold reading it seems: Julian Moore's The James Bond Cold Reading.

(Don't know that I want to actually buy a book on cold reading and sit there going through it. But on the other hand, after going through those vids, those audio things, if I find myself drawn to it, then I might after all.)

When you watch one, count the number of times they're wrong and see how they react when they hit on something an audience member responds to. Also count the number of times they ask about problems everyone has. Everyone has some kind of problem with money from time to time. Everyone has lost a loved one. Everyone has been sick.

If your father from tells you from beyond the grave not to worry about the money, there is going to be some issue related to money your father left you with. You might be arguing with siblings about a will or who paid for the funeral or liquidating the estate. You might not have a lot of money. You might have a lot of money and other family members don't and that causes tension. The mentalist will look at me, figure I'm around 50ish, think there's a good chance my father or mother have died and know there is some issue in my life related to money.

 

[Myriad]

Mentalism isn't a set of methods or skills, it's a category of stage magic effects. It's more or less, any trick whose narrative claims or implies extraordinary insight, on the magician's part, into the present thoughts or future behavior of people. While mentalist narratives usually suggest psychic or supernatural predictive or mind-reading abilities, there's a whole subcategory based on claimed applied psychology, such as claiming to read subtle facial signals or body language, or claiming to have forced a person's apparently free choices (of a color, a fruit, etc.) by using leading words.

There are mentalist illusions that work by sleight of hand, by traditional gimmicked props, by self-working mathematics, by stooges (planted "audience members"), by high technology, by mnemonic arts, and probably in a few cases, by actual psychological insight or manipulation. It's most effective when the claimed method is completely different from the actual method. A mentalist claiming to demonstrate extraordinary face-reading ability might actually be using a stooge or a gaffed slate, while one claiming to use a mysterious alien machine might actually be reading faces. A magician who's developed memorization skills probably won't use them in a demonstration of memorization skills, but instead, as part of the secret working of a trick that's claiming something else, like mind reading. A trick that purports to demonstrate memorization skills (e.g. memorizing the order of cards in a shuffled deck with one glance) will use another method instead.


Aside: the word "mentalism" has a completely different meaning in occult philosophy, as a supposed form of ("real") magic practiced by directing ones own thoughts or state of mind. I was surprised to learn, late in life, that I've actually been practicing this occult art since childhood. An example is blending into a crowd by thinking what the rest of the crowd is thinking. A more frequently practical example is mitigating pain by focusing on the actual painful sensation instead of on its painfulness ("this water sure feels cold" instead of "I'm wet and cold"). I don't think there's anything supernatural about any of it, though.

 

[Lithrael]

(...)there's a whole subcategory based on claimed applied psychology, such as claiming to read subtle facial signals or body language, or claiming to have forced a person's apparently free choices (of a color, a fruit, etc.) by using leading words(...)

I read a mentalism book with a big section on that, a while back. Not just leading words but also just knowing what most people will pick when you ask them to think of an X, along with the right way to patter away your misses and elevate your hits.

Penn & Teller got my biggest round of applause when on TV they said pick a card, and from a deck in my end table drawer I picked a card. At the end of the show they had my card. When it doesn't hit who cares. When it hits it's ******* magic.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

I read a mentalism book with a big section on that, a while back. Not just leading words but also just knowing what most people will pick when you ask them to think of an X, along with the right way to patter away your misses and elevate your hits.

Penn & Teller got my biggest round of applause when on TV they said pick a card, and from a deck in my end table drawer I picked a card. At the end of the show they had my card. When it doesn't hit who cares. When it hits it's ******* magic.

Out of a million marks, 19,230.76923076923 new believers!

 

[Orphia Nay]

Surely this is how it's done?

Probably the best celebrity psychic on the circuit.

That's pretty much it.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

That's pretty much it.

Trouble is that he's not very good. The best "mentalists" are much better.

 

[8enotto]

The first trick is labeling the art as mentalism. Being a mentalist implies a special power few have and being mysterious.
But it's really a person observant of human nature, manipulative and some medicine show skills.
It helps to be a bit callused to people in general. Exploiting the gullible for money is the game after all.

Kris Angel the illusionist was expert at manipulating his image while doing tricks others had done before him. An excellent showman above all covered for an average illusionist.
The most believed mentalist has that same skill set.

 

[Orphia Nay]

Trouble is that he's not very good. The best "mentalists" are much better.

Oh, definitely.

I'm thinking of the 2-bob ones we've got visiting our town relatively soon.

 

[dann]

One of the things I enjoy about watching stage magic is seeing little bits and pieces of the method peeking through the spectacle. Like, "ah, this is the part where the magician demonstrates that the audience volunteer he's selected cannot possibly be a plant." But does that mean the volunteer isn't a plant, and the illusion is being accomplished some other way? Or is convincing me that the audience member isn't a plant the actual illusion itself?

Something to bear in mind when trying to work out how a particular magic trick is done, there are no lengths a good magician won't go to for the sake of a good illusion. Don't dismiss a particular explanation just because you think it would be too much work to set up. On the other hand, some illusions do have a simple explanation. Hope this helps.

The hard work is to find pairs of identical twins where one twin really hates the other. While the unsuspecting twin is entering the incinerator on stage or being sawn in half, the evil twin is in the audience enjoying the show.
Creating body doubles like in The Prestige is an unnecessary complication and obviously impossible.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trouble is that he's not very good. The best "mentalists" are much better.

Clinton Batiste exists outside of Phoenix Nights, he's toured the comedy circuit for years.

I didn't realise he's the same Alex Lowe that's the well known radio comedy actor. He's in loads of BBC radio c comedy including being Brian in Clare in the Community, one of my favourite radio comedies starring the lovely Sally Phillips.
For those that know, he does 'Barry from Watfrord, the elderly lifestyle guru who guests on a number of radio shows including the old Steve Wright show.

 

[dann]

The only "solution" I could think of ...

There are several tricks. I like the following two YouTube videos - and there are several more:
This one's fairly simple and yet almost impossible to figure out if you aren't already familiar with the principle:
Mind Reading Trick Explained (4:17 min)

This one's more complicated and requires sleight-of-hand skills:
The Perfect Mentalism Trick Tutorial. Easy Mind-Reading Revealed by Spidey. (14:14 min)

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

If you would like to read dice and have a few hundred bucks to find, there is this:

Electronic Dice | Mental Dice

If you follow the magic business (as I do in a sort of desultory,, non-professional way), you will be continually amused by how newly developed tricks you can buy at magic stores show up on TV as marvelous mentalism, mystifying TV hosts who are so credulous. They show up on Penn and Teller's TV show as well but P & T shop at the same stores.