While there are many people in the world who genuinely believe they can see the future or speak with the dead and seek to help others with their perceived gifts¹, there are just as many who believe no such thing, yet successfully trick vulnerable people daily into believing they have such abilities and often taking their money. This is known as 'Cold Reading'. If you've watched any number of the growing psychic chat shows on our TV screens today, chances are you've seen a cold reader in action.

How Cold Reading Works

According to the principles of cold reading, any one of us can sucessfully pass ourselves off as a medium or psychic.
It is a human characteristic to hear what we want to hear and fill in the blanks ourselves, forgetting the bits we don't like or which are 'wrong'. Cold reading exploits this trait.

Several techniques tend to be employed by the cold reader to give the best effect. The reader will use general statements that could apply to anyone for instance; 'I sense a strong woman in your life' or 'you hide your pain behind a cheerful smile' and then use the person's response to gage where to go next. They will use what is known as 'hot button' topics to start with such as relationships, work and death. Hot button topics are those most likely to give the so-called psychic a 'hit'.
They may also look at clues such as a person's age range, build or accent to make more generalisations from and any information the person offers will be given back to them in such a way that they then believe they are genuinely hearing from a lost loved one or that the reader is indeed truly psychic.

"I guessed that she lived in the country, and probably near some horses. I said to her, 'my spirit guide Gaston is telling me about something to do with horses, and something to do with your mother.' She told me that she had a dream the night before about her mother driving a pickup truck into some water. I said, 'ah, that's what Gaston must be talking about - a horseless vehicle. Remember, he died during the Napoleonic War and doesn't know what a truck is.'"
"Luckily, the word mere is French for mother, mare also means horse, and mer also means sea." Tom Campbell milked the coincidence for all it was worth - a necessary evil in cold reading.
"When that woman looks back on that reading, she'll think that I told her exactly what she dreamt the night before. That's how she'll remember it. All I did was mention horses and her mother. She did the rest. Cold readers keep things nice and ambiguous and let the person do all the work." - From Cold Reading: Confessions of a "Psychic" By Colin Hunter

Cold reading is, without doubt, very versatile, and can be used for many different kinds of readings including
astrology, tarot, palmistry, psychometry, mediumship and clairvoyance. There are of course those who do not seek to deceive others intentionally but genuinely believe that they are psychic. Many may have merely learnt to cold read without realising it themselves.

It is now widely believed that the famed international medium Doris Stokes, among others, was merely a highly skilled cold reader whether she believed it herself or not. Modern magician Derren Brown has presented TV shows where he intentionally cold reads to show how it works and there is much debate about the alleged abilities of other popular psychics today such as John Edwards and Colin Fry.

Cold reading in History

Cold reading, or similar methods of spritual fraud can be dated as far back as the early 19th Century. The Fox sisters, the founders of the American spiritualist movement in the 1840's were proven hoaxers. At seances Kate Fox would create noises that were attributed to spirits trying to communicate by cracking the joints in her toes.
Many have tried to debunk such frauds over the years, including world-renowned magician Harry Houdini who at one point offered a $10,000 reward to any one who could show a psychic feat he could not reproduce himself with trickery. The reward was never claimed.

Other uses of Cold Reading

Though primarily used by people who wish to pass themselves off as psychic, cold reading techniques can be, and are, used in other circumstances. For instance, they may be used by a sales person or confidence trickster, a detective, in fact anyone wishing to gain information from another person or just their trust can employ the techniques of the cold reader to do so more easily.