How do psychic mediums know stuff about you

Pope130 said:
One of the best sources of information on how to run the psychic medium con is, unfortunately, the books written by psychic debunkers.
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And the response to those books from the shadier sides of the industry, more often than not, is "The debunkers have to use those kinds of tricks, but I'm the real deal." In other words, they double down on the the prospect that the rubes won't figure out how it works. I guess we're supposed to believe that some magicians really do saw the lady in half despite the various common ways of creating the illusion.

I probably should revise my previous comments to say there are three camps. As I said, I know people who are basically just peer counselors who believe they have some sort of supernatural ability. These are generally the sort of people who say, "The spirit of your mother wants you to know she's proud of you and wants you to be happy." Okay, whatever. I tend to consider them harmless.

Then there are the stage mentalists who are primarily entertainers and want their audiences to know that going in. I guess those aren't the people we're talking about, but therre they are. The actor who played young Hodor in Game of Thrones is doing that sort of thing on the London stage these days.

The ones we have to watch out for are the ones who might have the potential to cause some real harm. "The spirit of your mother wants you to give me all your money." Or then also those commercial mediums who work strong and become very famous and rich, and you have to dig deeply into the fine print to find where they disavow any reliance you might want to take from them. I highly doubt these people believe they have a real gift any more than the stage mentalists who just don't happen to be as rich or famous.
 
I was only impressed by a psychic reading I had once. Even during my new age wooster days, I could usually tell that the reader was performing a trick. But when I was 19 or so, my then-partner bought me a reading with this whoopty-doo psychic he liked for my birthday. It was conducted over the phone, and the woman did send me a recording of the conversation afterward (which I no longer have).

At the time, I thought this one was the real deal, chiefly because the reader opened our conversation by stating something she really couldn't have known (a medical condition I had), especially not over the phone. The first question I asked my partner after hanging up was, "Did you tell her about X?" He said he hadn't. So, mind blown! I met a psychic.

Years later, I realize he was just lying. He did tell her, and he probably also told her to open with that information, in order to shock me and diffuse my skepticism. I don't remember anything else we talked about as being particularly impressive. But because she opened with that seeming bombshell, I was primed to find the whole experience "amazing."

Turns out, the only amazing factor was probably just my partner's willingness to tell fat whoppers (which had, I assure you, been amply demonstrated in other ways by the time we split up).
 
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delete - Got paranoid that the psychic might somehow come on here, lol, so I'm removing some further detail about the reading!

It was a long time ago, but eh. This is how my mind works.
 
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Venom said:
lol
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Not because she's psychic and would sense the post or anything, just to be clear! I just thought, "Hmmm, wouldn't it be just my luck if that same psychic came here one day to debate the grumpy old skeptics, and she saw these posts and pieced together that it was me and remembered me and thought I was a bitch?" I don't know why I care, but that just wouldn't be good, lol.

This is the same kind of thinking that causes me to always be afraid that planes flying over are going to crash and land on my house.
 
Thank you for your comments. Ok, I am going to share something with you. I suffer from low self esteem, I care immensely for others (have done care work in the past) and would one day like to be a counsellor
Anyhow a medium a while back (as I say I am trying to debunk all the nonsense I once believed) and it is weird how she stated God says I have a giving heart and care for others but not myself.
Do you think her reading is very general and in fact a lot of people are like this... care for others but not ery much for themselves. What do you think-

'God gave you a huge heart, which you are to use to assist others. Before you can do that, you must assist yourself. LOVE yourself, is what God says. FORGIVE yourself, is what God says. You are human, just like everyone else on the planet, which means we are not perfect. God sent us here to learn about ourselves, and to learn about each other, how we fit into the world around us. We are not to judge ourselves or others. We are to accept ourselves for who we are, and work on strengthening our gifts. Your gift, Amy, is your huge heart, your love for others. But again, you give this love to others, but not yourself. Your homework, God says, is to learn how to love yourself exactly as you are right now. In doing so, you can help others learn to love themselves'
 
AmyW said:
Thank you for your comments. Ok, I am going to share something with you. I suffer from low self esteem, I care immensely for others (have done care work in the past) and would one day like to be a counsellor
Anyhow a medium a while back (as I say I am trying to debunk all the nonsense I once believed) and it is weird how she stated God says I have a giving heart and care for others but not myself.
Do you think her reading is very general and in fact a lot of people are like this... care for others but not ery much for themselves. What do you think-

'God gave you a huge heart, which you are to use to assist others. Before you can do that, you must assist yourself. LOVE yourself, is what God says. FORGIVE yourself, is what God says. You are human, just like everyone else on the planet, which means we are not perfect. God sent us here to learn about ourselves, and to learn about each other, how we fit into the world around us. We are not to judge ourselves or others. We are to accept ourselves for who we are, and work on strengthening our gifts. Your gift, Amy, is your huge heart, your love for others. But again, you give this love to others, but not yourself. Your homework, God says, is to learn how to love yourself exactly as you are right now. In doing so, you can help others learn to love themselves'
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This paragraph could apply to anyone who has an inkling to believe in God. Even if you discard the God part, this is how a lot of people see themselves. This is over the top generic.
 
AmyW said:
Thank you for your comments. Ok, I am going to share something with you. I suffer from low self esteem, I care immensely for others (have done care work in the past) and would one day like to be a counsellor
Anyhow a medium a while back (as I say I am trying to debunk all the nonsense I once believed) and it is weird how she stated God says I have a giving heart and care for others but not myself.
Do you think her reading is very general and in fact a lot of people are like this... care for others but not ery much for themselves. What do you think-

'God gave you a huge heart, which you are to use to assist others. Before you can do that, you must assist yourself. LOVE yourself, is what God says. FORGIVE yourself, is what God says. You are human, just like everyone else on the planet, which means we are not perfect. God sent us here to learn about ourselves, and to learn about each other, how we fit into the world around us. We are not to judge ourselves or others. We are to accept ourselves for who we are, and work on strengthening our gifts. Your gift, Amy, is your huge heart, your love for others. But again, you give this love to others, but not yourself. Your homework, God says, is to learn how to love yourself exactly as you are right now. In doing so, you can help others learn to love themselves'
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Sorry, but it's a Barnum statement, it applies to everyone, or at least everyone believes it does. Everyone has something they regret, everyone thinks they're a good person (even if there are 'reasons' why they can't actually DO anything good at the moment). Other things to look for are self contradictory statements that disguise that fact so they sound right whichever statement is correct ( "You have a gregarious spirit but can be happy alone" or making compliments (that anyone will accept, right or wrong) sound like a flaw so the mark can 'reluctantly' admit to it. "You try too hard to make others happy".
 
It's called the Forer Effect, or sometimes the Barnum Effect.


In 1948, in what has been described as a "classic experiment",[10] psychologist Bertram R. Forer gave a psychology test – his so-called "Diagnostic Interest Blank" – to 39 of his psychology students who were told that they would each receive a brief personality vignette or sketch based on their test results. One week later Forer gave each student a purportedly individualized sketch and asked each of them to rate it on how well it applied. In reality, each student received the same sketch, consisting of the following items:[11]

You have a great need for other people to like and admire you.
You have a tendency to be critical of yourself.
You have a great deal of unused capacity which you have not turned to your advantage.
While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them.
Your sexual adjustment has presented problems for you.
Disciplined and self-controlled outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure 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 pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others' statements without satisfactory proof.
You have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others.
At times you are extroverted, affable, sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, reserved.
Some of your aspirations tend to be pretty unrealistic.
Security is one of your major goals in life.

On average, the students rated its accuracy as 4.30 on a scale of 0 (very poor) to 5 (excellent). Only after the ratings were turned in was it revealed that each student had received an identical sketch assembled by Forer from a newsstand astrology book.[11] The sketch contains statements that are vague and general enough to apply to most people.
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She was playing Vegas odds. Most people are Christian of some sort, everyone wants to hear good things about themselves. And somebody told the psychic about your work, just a little bit. She didn't know whom you counciled for what. It was probably you.

She tells you about four toes on your left foot and your parents are in Cancun for the week, and none of this is possible to see when you walked in, those are specific longshot bets that will make you know she has a gift, or she is a complete fraud.
 
8enotto said:
She was playing Vegas odds. Most people are Christian of some sort, everyone wants to hear good things about themselves. And somebody told the psychic about your work, just a little bit. She didn't know whom you counciled for what. It was probably you.

She tells you about four toes on your left foot and your parents are in Cancun for the week, and none of this is possible to see when you walked in, those are specific longshot bets that will make you know she has a gift, or she is a complete fraud.
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Thanks every one, I've received such amazing advice and the stories people have told me.
No she didn't know about my work experience, she didn't specify what work I did, just that I had a big heart and I care for others more than my self (love) so would you say that it was a very general statement? Would that apply for a lot of people that they can love other people but not love themselves?
 
AmyW said:
Thanks every one, I've received such amazing advice and the stories people have told me.
No she didn't know about my work experience, she didn't specify what work I did, just that I had a big heart and I care for others more than my self (love) so would you say that it was a very general statement? Would that apply for a lot of people that they can love other people but not love themselves?
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Everybody wants to think of themselves that they care greatly for other people. Psychics stoke the ego. They tell people the things that they think they want to hear. Things that confirm all the best things they think about themselves. You'll never hear a psychic tell someone that they're a bit of an *******.
 
AmyW said:
Thanks every one, I've received such amazing advice and the stories people have told me.
No she didn't know about my work experience, she didn't specify what work I did, just that I had a big heart and I care for others more than my self (love) so would you say that it was a very general statement? Would that apply for a lot of people that they can love other people but not love themselves?
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Psychics throw stuff out knowing people will glom on to whatever most resonates with them and ignore the rest. That's why people who are given exactly the same reading will all consider it accurate. They're all going to hear something in it that makes them think "wow, how did she know that", though it might be a different thing for each of them.
 
The way to eliminate the Forer Effect is to do a blind test. An astrologer, say, might prepare five readings for five subjects but instead of giving each subject their horoscope and asking if they think it's accurate (which would prove nothing because of the Forer Effect) they would give all five horoscopes to all five subjects and ask each to pick out the one they think is theirs - the one which resonates with them the most. If all that's going on is the Forer Effect then all the horoscopes will seem equally accurate to all the subjects, and the one that happens to resonate the most will only be the one that's actually theirs as often as would be expected by chance. But if there's anything to astrology at all then the one that's actually theirs should resonate the most, and should be identified successfully significantly more often than would be expected by chance.

That's exactly the sort of result which would have won someone the million dollars in the JREF challenge. No-one - no astrologer, psychic, or tarot card reader- has ever passed such a test.
 
This psychic also said -

God responds, "There are many studies I have created that do not revolve around math and science. The study of the heart, of connection to others, is your specialty. Is it scientific? There are scientific aspects to it, but most would not consider it scientific. Does that make it less relevant? No. It is even more relevant because it defines relationships and how we work together on the planet. You have a gift. Your gift is seeing others' pain and then helping them through it. We need you to step into your gift so you can help others. But first, you must help yourself with your pain. Again, LOVE yourself. From there, all other things will fall into place

What is so strange is that my passion is helping others, my line of work used to be looking after elderly people and one day I would like to be a counsellor, helping those in need of help with problems such as addictions etc... again is this weird she new that or is this very general. Here is the link to her website, id like to know what you think

https://www.sarinabaptista.com
 
Pixel42 said:
The way to eliminate the Forer Effect is to do a blind test. An astrologer, say, might prepare five readings for five subjects but instead of giving each subject their horoscope and asking if they think it's accurate (which would prove nothing because of the Forer Effect) they would give all five horoscopes to all five subjects and ask each to pick out the one they think is theirs - the one which resonates with them the most. If all that's going on is the Forer Effect then all the horoscopes will seem equally accurate to all the subjects, and the one that happens to resonate the most will only be the one that's actually theirs as often as would be expected by chance. But if there's anything to astrology at all then the one that's actually theirs should resonate the most, and should be identified successfully significantly more often than would be expected by chance.

That's exactly the sort of result which would have won someone the million dollars in the JREF challenge. No-one - no astrologer, psychic, or tarot card reader- has ever passed such a test.
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That's amazing, thank goodness people likes James exists, rational thinkers, it's amazing that not one passed and reassuring. Is the test still available? What they have is chance, they don't believe in coincidences but that's all it is sometimes
 
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