Full Facts Books are supplied from the website of Ian Rowland Limited. At the time of printing, the website address is: www.ianrowland.com The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading by Ian Rowland Third edition Website: www.ianrowland.com This book is dedicated with love to my Mother and Father, two exceptional, wonderful and admirable people. The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading (third edition) Copyright © Ian Rowland 2002 London, England 1st edition published 1998 2nd edition published 2001 Published by Ian Rowland Limited All rights reserved. This publication may not be copied or reproduced in whole or in part by any means or in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the author. At the time of printing, Ian Rowland's website is: www. ianrowland. com Like everything else on the web, this is subject to change. You can always track down the current version using your favourite search engine, or your psychic powers. Contents Section 1: Welcome to the Psychic Circus 8 The Greatest Scam In History? 8 Overview: what you will find in this book 10 Three things this book is not about 11 Section 2: How Cold Reading works 14 Defining terms 14 What is cold reading? 14 What is a psychic reading? 14 Readings categorised by type 15 Readings categorised by content 16 Readings categorised by delivery 16 Readings categorised by client 17 Terms used in this book 18 Five popular misconceptions 19 1. Body language 19 2. Shrewd observation 19 3. Fishing for clues 20 4. Vagueness and generalisation 20 5. Stupid, credulous and gullible? 21 How it works 1/7: The Set Up 24 1. Meeting and greeting 24 2. Encouraging co-operative interpretation 25 3. Establishing an intimate atmosphere 25 4. Establishing psychic credentials 26 5. Establishing the belief system 27 6. Supplying a pre-emptive excuse for failure 28 7. Checking for recent readings 28 8. Setting the client at ease 29 How it works 2/7: The Principal Themes 30 How it works 3/7: The Elements of the Reading 31 Elements about character 32 1. The Rainbow Ruse 32 2. Fine Flattery 33 3. The Psychic Credit 35 4. Sugar Lumps 37 5. The Jacques Statement 38 6. Greener Grass 39 7. Barnum Statements 41 Elements about facts and events 43 1. The Fuzzy Fact 43 2. The Good Chance Guess 47 3. The Lucky Guess 49 4. The Stat Fact 52 5. The Trivia Stat 53 6. The Cultural Trend 56 7. The Childhood Memory 60 8. Folk Wisdom 62 9. The Seasonal Touch 62 10. The Opposites Game 65 11. The Push Statement 65 Elements about extracting information 68 1. The Direct Question 68 2. The Incidental Question 69 3. The Veiled Question 70 4. The Diverted Question 72 5. The Jargon Blitz 74 6. The Vanishing Negative 75 7. The Sherlock Strategy 77 8. The Russian Doll 81 Elements about the future 84 1. Peter Pan Predictions 85 2. Pollyanna Pearls 86 3. Certain Predictions 87 4. 50/50 Predictions 88 5. Likely Predictions 89 6. Unlikely Predictions 89 7. Factual Predictions 90 8. Self-fulfilling Predictions 91 9. Vague Predictions 91 10. Unverifiable Predictions 92 11. One-way Verifiable Predictions 92 Special section: Public Predictions 93 12. The Neverwas Prediction 94 How it works 4/7: The Win-Win Game 97 1. Persist, wonder and let it linger 97 2. I am right, but you have forgotten 98 3. I am right, but you do not know 99 4. I am right, but nobody knows 99 5. I am right, but it's embarrassing 99 6. I am wrong now, but I will be right soon 100 7. I am wrong, but it doesn't matter 100 8. I am wrong in fact, but right emotionally 100 9. I am wrong in fact, but right within system 102 10. Wrong small print, right headline 103 11. Accept, apologise, and move on 104 How it works 5/7: Presentational Points 105 1. Cultivating feedback 105 2. Sensory empathy 110 3. The cream principle 112 4. Emphasising the conditional 113 5. Providing room for interpretation 114 6. Forking 115 7. Keeping it clear 117 8. Keeping it 'folksy' 117 9. Sustaining pace 117 10. Reprising with gold paint 117 11. Summarising the reading 119 12. Looking good for the crowd 119 How it works 6/7: Putting it all together 121 The psychic toolbox 121 Almost improvising 121 Principal phases 121 How it works 7/7: Coping with sceptics 126 Making no claim 126 Praising the caution 126 Offering Sugar lumps 127 Giving up 127 Interlude 1: "How do you explain that?" 129 Section 3: Putting the theory to the test 134 Introduction 134 Two points about me 134 Test conditions 135 Transcripts 136 Example 1: improvised tarot reading 136 Example 2: prepared astrological reading 156 Interlude 2: On keeping an open mind 173 Section 4: Blocking techniques 176 1. Stay calm, stay reasonable 177 2. Insist questions are recognised as such 178 3. Do not answer questions 178 4. Do not provide feedback 179 5. Sabotage the elements 180 Psychic baiting 182 Section 5: Additional notes 188 Instant readings 188 Mnemonics 189 Hot reading 190 Can anyone learn cold reading? 193 Section 6: Non-psychic contexts 196 Introduction 196 Cold reading and selling 197 CR and cold calling (1): accessing the prospect 198 CR and cold calling (2): drilling for information 201 CR and staging the sales meeting 203 CR and the illusion of knowledge 206 Applying 'character' elements 207 Applying 'facts' elements 210 Applying prediction elements 213 Retail Selling 213 Cold Reading and romance 215 CR and dating basics 216 CR and conversational themes 217 CR and building rapport 217 Ethics 220 Cold reading and criminal interrogation 221 Contextual parallels 221 CR and interrgation 224 Legality 228 Pass it on! 230 Appendix 231 Note 1: Market for psychic readings 231 Note 2: Deception and entertainment 231 Note 3: Making people like you 231 Note 4: Sheehy's 'Passages' 232 Note 5: Barnum experiments 232 Note 6: 'Sherlock Strategy' Guessing Game answers 232 Note 7: Probability and disasters 235 Thanks and acknowledgements 236 Section One Welcome to the Psychic Circus "In the matters of religion, it is very hard to deceive a man, and very hard to undeceive him." - Pierre Bayle. 'Dictionary' Section 1: Welcome to the Psychic Circus The Greatest Scam In History? They are found throughout history. They are found throughout the world. And they defy explanation. They are psychic readings, and everyone has either had one or knows someone who has. People find these readings astonishing, and with good reason, since they are often intriguing and incredible. Let me describe what happens. You go to see a psychic - someone to whom you are a complete stranger. The psychic, usually female, describes your personality with pin-point accuracy. She identifies events in your past and present. Her reading may include the names of people you know, and specific facts about your personal life, career, and plans for the future. She refers to your innermost thoughts and problems, and provides wisdom and guidance which seems to make sense. She may also offer glimpses into the future which have an uncanny way of coming true. This is a psychic reading, and it is the essence of today's psychic industry. Countless thousands have been moved, impressed and thrilled by such readings, and offer testimonials like this: "I found my reading absolutely fantastic, I really enjoyed it. Everything that he said was absolutely spot on, and everything that he said that was going to happen to me seems absolutely fantastic. I was very impressed actually. He did a personality analysis on me and it was really right - spot on." There are many testimonials similar to the above. If sincere and enthusiastic testimony were an infallible guide to truth, then no- one could doubt the authenticity of psychic ability. But it is not. And it can. The above is a real quote, from a real person. However, the reading she had been given was a complete sham. I know, because I gave the reading, and there was nothing psychic about it. Instead, I used 'cold reading' - the psychologically deceptive technique which is the subject of this book. A global industry, and growing Glowing testimonials such as the one above are more or less the sole fuel of today's psychic industry. If people were not impressed by psychic readings, the industry could well collapse. But people are, and the industry is global and growing. Today, it enjoys unprecedented popularity thanks to TV 'infomercials', telemarketing and the internet. As an industry, it may not yet be as big as oil, but it is older, will last longer, and is vastly more profitable. To profit from oil you have to find it, transport it, refine it and sell it. To profit from psychic readings, you just talk to people and they give you money. And whereas the world will one day run out of oil, it will never run out of people wanting a psychic reading. It is hard to say exactly how much talking, and how much money, is involved. One source suggested in 1998 that the psychic network industry in the United States alone would soon be worth 1.4 to 2 billion dollars [see Appendix note 1). In England, where I live, the industry is similarly flourishing if not quite so well- developed. For one thing, our TV channels do not accommodate 30 minute 'infomercials'. This is one good reason for living here, and almost makes up for the fact that it rains a lot and nobody looks cheerful.