Also as I regularly talk about, I’m a big believer in the thinker and prover theory which suggests in this context that we search for that which matches our view of the world (which is perceived through our experiences), rather than that which doesn’t. So when my “reading” suggests that you often think about people just before they ring you, you are more likely to have stored the occurrences than the number of times that it didn’t happen.

And then of course not to be forgotten is the hypnotic aspect of a reading. It is playing on your assumption that there is something otherworldly going on, which requires you to some extent to abandon or put aside the normally agreed rules of what is possible, hence opening you up to the idea that psychic readings are possible. This is combined usually with a set of very general statements that are designed to get a “yes” response. Research shows that “yes” has a physiological response that lasts for a finite time after the word is said (so does “no”, in fact all words effect states, yes however is a much more receptive state to be in). The more “yes” answers you give the more likely you are to respond yes to the next one (mind influences body influences mind). This “yes set” is a common influencial technique used by salesmen, and I have personally used it to put people in to trance. So this yes set actually sets you up physiologically to agree to the statements being made, gradually allowing you to accept as true (or search for the truth in) increasingly elaborate statements.

Interesting stuff. If you’d like to read the book let me know.

I’m working from the hypothesis that cold reading plays on this tendency. As humans we look for relevance in everything we see, read, hear or otherwise process. This is especially true when something is directed ostensively at us. So, when we are given a reading of this sort, our instinct is to make it relevant to ourselves and we fill in any gaps in context and make the necessary extra assumptions in order to achieve this.

You can see this happening on any TV psychic show (personally I do have an interest in this side of it). People will add any number of assumptions and make the most unlikely connections to find some relevance for the ‘reading’ in their lives.

According to my hypothesis cold reading is a manipulation of an innate human tendency which is essential to our communication strategies and arguable to our survival.