Cold reading strategies.docx

Cold reading strategies.docx

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Coldreadingstrategies

Coldreadingstrategies

ChrisA.Roe

PsychologyDivision,

UniversityCollegeNorthampton

1.Introduction

Therecanbelittledoubtthattherelativelyhighlevelsofbeliefinparanormalphenomenaamongmembersofthegeneralpopulationaredueinparttoimpressiveexperienceswhichtheywereunable,afterconsideration,toaccountforintermsofmoremundaneprocesses（cf.Schmeidler,1985）.Irwin（1985）,forexample,reportspersonalexperiencetobetheprimaryfactorloadingonbelief,irrespectiveofthebreadthofthemeasure.OnepotentiallyimportantsourceofimpressiveexperiencesisthroughinteractionswithprofessionalpsychicssuchaspalmistsandTarotreaders（Schouten,1993）,andanumberofscepticalcommentatorshaveclaimed（withoutcitingparticularempiricalevidence）thatclientsaretypicallyimpressedwiththecontentofreadingstheyhavesolicited（Dutton,1988;Frenchetal..1991;Hyman,1989）.

Indeedtheredoesseemtobesomesupportfortheclaimthatpsychicreadingsarewell-regardedbyconsumers（e.g.Haraldsson,1985;Palmer,1979）.Onerecentsurvey（Roe,1997）foundthatasurprisinglyhighproportion（29.5%）ofthesampledpopulationhadattendedareadingatsometime.Althoughsomeoftheseclientshadattendedonlyforentertainmentorothersocialreasons,theirreadingswereneverthelesstypicallyregardedasrelativelyaccurateandspecific,with50%ofattendeesbelievingtheexperiencetobeofsomevaluetothem.Thispicturecontrastsquitesharplywithresearchinvestigatingprofessionalpsychicreaders,whichprovideslittleexperimentalevidencetosupporttheviewthattheyhaveparanormalaccesstoinformationabouttheirclients.Inthemostrecentandmostextensivereviewofquantitativestudiesevaluatingmaterialproducedduringostensiblypsychicreadings,Schouten（1994）concludedthat"thereislittlereasontoexpectmediumsmoreoftentomakecorrectstatementsaboutmattersunknownatthetimethan...canbeexpectedbychance"（p.221）.

Howcanthesefindingsbereconciled?

Often,successesbypsychicshavebeenexplainednotasaconsequenceofpsychicability,butintermsoftheexploitationofcommon（butsubtle）channelsofcommunicationusingwhathasbeentermed"coldreading"（e.g.Schwartz,1978;Randi,1981）.Theconceptisnotnew;Whaley（1989）forexampledescribesitas"Originallytheargotofpsychicmediumsby1924...fromthefactthatthecustomerwalksin'cold'-previouslyunknowntothefortune-teller"（p.173）,andthestratagemwasprobablyfirsthintedatinthewritingsofConanDoylethroughtheinstantface-to-facedeductionsofSherlockHolmes,publishedfrom1887.

Amorerecentdefinitionofcoldreading,takenfromRayHyman'sclassicaccountoftheeffect,describesitas"aprocedurebywhicha'reader'isabletopersuadeaclientwhomhehasnevermetbeforethatheknowsallabouttheclient'spersonalityandproblems"（Hyman,1977:

20）.Unfortunately,thisdoesnotgiveusmuchinsightintotheactualprocessofcoldreading,andaperhapsmoreusefuloperationaldefinitionisgivenelsewherebyHyman:

Thecoldreadingemploysthedynamicsofthedyadicrelationshipbetweenpsychicandclienttodevelopasketchthatistailoredtotheclient.Thereaderemploysshrewdobservation,nonverbalandverbalfeedbackfromtheclient,andtheclient'sactivecooperationtocreateadescriptionthattheclientissurepenetratestothecoreofhisorherpsyche.（1981,p.428）

Inpractice,thetechniquesidentifiedasexamplesofcoldreadingcanvaryinformfromcasetocase;fromasimplerelianceonusingstatementswhicharetrueofmostpeople（Dutton,1988）throughtoabroaderdefinitionwhichincludespre-sessioninformationgatheringaboutaclient（Hyman,1977;Couttie,1988）.Techniquessuchas'fishing'（tobedescribedlater）areregardedascentraltosomeaccounts（e.g.Randi,1981）butasseparate,supplementarymethodsbyothers（Whaley,1989）.Thereisarealdangerthatoverliberalandinconsistentapplicationofthetermwillcauseittoloseanyexplanatorypowerithas.

Therearealsoclearindicationsthatthecoldreading'process'actuallyconsistsofanumberofdiscreteandindependentstrategies.Hyman（1981）hintsatthiswhenhedistinguishesbetweentwo'types'ofreading-staticanddynamic-whichexploitquitedifferentpsychologicalmechanisms.Theformermakesuseofcommonalitiesbetweenclientstoallowthereadertolaunchintoastockspielwhichshouldapplyequallywelltoall,whereasthelatterdependsuponinteractionwiththeclienttogeneratematerialwhichismoretailor-madetohisorherspecificcircumstances.Aninitialattemptwillbemadeheretoidentifyandcharacterisetheactualtechniquesbroughttobearincoldreading,andtospecifytheirinterrelationships.Themodelwhichhasbeendevelopedisinformedbytwosources:

1.1Pseudopsychicliterature

Thereexistsasubstantialspecialistliteraturedescribingthetechniquesinvolvedinsettingupasapseudopsychic,runningundertitlessuchasMoney-makingColdReading（Hobrin,1990）andCashinginonthePsychic（Ruthchild,1978）.Thisliteratureistypicallyproducedtoallowthepeudopsychicfraternitytoshareresourcesandexpertise,andisnotintendedtobegenerallyavailable.Booksareprivatelypublishedorproducedbyspecialistpublishersofmagicliterature,andtendtobeadvertisedinprivatecirculationmagicsocietycataloguesandmagazines.AccesstothesesupplierswasmadepossiblewiththeassistanceofProfessorRobertMorrisandDrRichardWiseman.Thelatterisaproficentclose-upmagicianandmemberofanumberofmagicsocieties,whowasatthattimeamemberoftheparapsychologyunitatEdinburgh.Together,wewereabletobuildareasonablepseudopsychiclibraryfromwhichtodevelopadescriptionofcoldreadingpracticesasarticulatedbypseudopsychicsthemselves（Cain,1991;Corinda,1984;Earle,1990a,1990b;Fuller,1975,1980;Hester&Hudson,1977;Hobrin,1990;Jones,1989;Lewis,1991;Martin,1990;Ruthchild,1978,1981;Webster,1990）.

1.2Interactionswithapracticingpseudopsychic

Anexploratorystudy,conductedincooperationwithpseudopsychicMalcolmDavidson,allowedustoinvestigatethemechanicsofcoldreadinginsitu.DavidsonhadworkedasapsychicreaderintheYorkshireregionforover15years,butwasatthattimesemi-retiredandwashappytosharesomeofhisexpertisewithus.Aone-dayinitialexploratorystudywasarrangedinwhichhewasfilmedgivingseparatereadingstothreeindividualsinthemorning,andgaveacommentaryonthetechniquesbeingusedintheafternoon.

Threesitters（allfemale）wereselectedtorepresentabroadagerange,andwereinvitedtoparticipatein'apreliminaryevaluationofapsychicreader'.SittingstookplaceintheUniversity'stelevisionstudio,andwerefilmedusingthreevideocameras.Thefirstofthesegaveaside-onlongshot（fullbody）ofthesitterandreader.Camerastwoandthreegavemid-shots（waistup）ofthesitterandreaderrespectively.Recordingsfromcamerastwoandthreewereeditedtogethertogiveaverticalsplit-screenviewoftheinteraction,withonehalfshowingthereaderandtheotherthesitter.

Uponcompletionofthereading,eachsittergaveimmediatefeedback,ostensiblytoallowustodecidewhetherfurthertestingwouldbefruitful.Ssgavethreeratings,indicatinghowimpressedtheywerewiththereading'scontent,howrelevantitwastoworriesorconcernstheyhad,andhowpsychictheythoughtthereaderwas.Responsesweregivenusinga7-pointLikertscale,where1=notatall,and7=verymuch.Sitters'actualratingsarereproducedinTable1:

sitter

impressed

relevance

psychic?

One

6

5

5

Two

6

6

7

Three

1

1

1

Table1:

Sitters'ratingsoftheirreading

Twoofthereadingswereverywellreceived,suggestingthatthepseudopsychictechniquesbeingusedweresuccessfulinpersuadingtheseclientsthatthereaderdidhaveparanormalaccesstoinformationaboutthem.Subjectthreewasanacademiccolleaguewhoworkedinthedepartment.ItseemslikelythatshedidnotconformtothestereotypesDavidsonusuallyuseswithwomenofherage.Sheisalsomostlikelyofthethreetobegenerallyscepticalofclaimsofpsychicability.Immediatelyaftersupplyingratings,sittersweredebriefedastothetrueobjectiveoftheinvestigation.

Intheafternoon,wemetwithDavidsontoreviewthevideorecordings.Davidsonwasvideotapedgivingacommentaryonthethreereadings,andansweringquestionsabouttheactualmethodsused.CopiesofallvideomaterialarelodgedwiththeKoestlerChair,andareavailableforinspection.Videofootagewasstudiedtocomparetheoreticalaccountsofcoldreadingasgivenintheliteraturewithactualexamplesoftheprocessinpractice.WehadintendedtoconductfurtherworkwithDavidson,butsadlyhediedbeforethiscouldbearranged.

2Anexpandedmodelofcoldreading

Theabovesourcesofinformationaboutthepseudopsychictechniquesuggestamodelinwhichcoldreadingactuallyencompassesanumberofdiscreteoperationswhichappeartorepresentahierarchy（seeFigure1）.

Alltheseprocessesinvolvethegatheringofintelligenceabouttheclient,butaredistinguishableonthebasisofwhenandhowtransferofinformationoccurs,andofwhatformthatinformationtakes.Thoseatthebaseofthehierarchyrequirelittle,ifany,interactionwiththeclient,butthereadingso-producedremainsrelativelyvagueorgeneral.Astheopportunityforinteractionincreases,sothereadingcanbemademorespecifictotheclientinattendance.Knowledgeofalloftheprocessesenablesthereadertoproduceareasonablesketchwhateversituationhe