How Mentalists Read Your Mind The Art Of Cold Reading or Mind Reading | Page 73

John Edward’s cold reading technique
analysed
1. Make a lot of guesses. To start with, guess common initials – J
(James/Jimmy), R (includes Bob, Robert), M (common
especially among older women).
2. Guess “chest area” as cause of death – covers all heart attacks
as well as lung cancer. At a pinch can cover for a car accident
too. Also, guess “cancer” – someone in the family must have
died of it sometime.
3. Ask about “father figures” or “mother figures” – covers a multitude including older brothers/sisters, aunts/uncles – the caller
will supply the actual answer that you can pretend you got.
4. Allow caller to “help”, This is a big part of the psychology of
cold reading – the caller feels it is his or her fault if you guess
wrong and so the caller, if possible, will try to turn your miss
into a hit.
5. Ask questions such as (for example) “who died in a car
accident”. If you are lucky, someone will fit the guess and you
look like a hero. If you are wrong you have not actually said
anyone died in a car accident, and so cannot be accused of being
wrong. Everyone will forget the wrong guesses. (Remember,
confirmation bias is your friend.)
6. Ask “do you understand”. Caller will reply “yes” – they
understand what you are saying and it appears they agree with
you. But “I understand” is not the same as “you are correct”.
7. If your guess is wrong, insist the caller, not you, is wrong. The
caller just doesn’t realize he had the older brother that you
incorrectly guessed he had. Always sound supremely confident
especially when you guess wrong – caller will think their
knowledge of their own family is incorrect