How Mentalists Read Your Mind The Art Of Cold Reading or Mind Reading | Page 77

know something about the subject. Using Barnum statements is
like shotgunning except you're just dealing with one person. For
example, you could say, "You're on the verge of making a big
decision in your life." Most people, at any given time, are dealing
with a big decision, or at least one that seems big at the time. Still
the subject will likely be somewhat impressed that you knew that
about them, and they may even volunteer more information.
8.
Make the subject's answers your own. Much of what a cold
reader does is simply repeating back what the subject has said. Do
this in such a way so that it appears you already knew the answer.
If you manage to do this cleverly, the subject will tend to forget
that it was he or she that gave you the information. Suppose the
subject affirms that they are on the verge of making a big decision.
You can simply say, "Yes, that's right," thereby claiming their
answer as your own. You can even go further, by saying, "Yes,
that's right. It's been troubling you for a while now." The more
information the subject volunteers, the more information you can
claim.
9.
Delve deeper. Once you're on a fruitful line of questioning
(or "reading"), keep going. So the subject is making a decision. You
could follow that with another Barnum statement, such as, "But
this decision involves another person, too." Most decisions do
involve at least one other person to some extent or another. If
you're observant and brave, you might notice the subject's
wedding ring and say instead, "But this decision needs to be made
with your husband." If you're right - because the statement is so
obvious yet also targeted toward an observable attribute of the
person, you probably are right - you'll be that much more
impressive.
10. Use pregnant pauses. One method of fishing around for
information is to pause long enough for a reaction from your
subject. If, for example, you mention that the decision needs to be
made with her husband, you can wait a moment to see if the
person has anything to say about that. He or she may immediately