Can one consciousness directly examine another – and if so, how is this done? When we ask questions like these, we enter the realm of mind readers and psychics.
People are endlessly fascinated by mind readers, psychics, and clairvoyants. By offering a mixture of insight, prophecy, and sheer entertainment, some have built successful careers and have even been sought out as advisers by politicians and leaders. It is undeniable that the best exponent of mind reading is extremely skillful, leaving even hardened skeptics with the impression that they ‘know’ more than they should. But how is this done?
Cold Reading
Many stage mind readers, physics astrologers, and palm readers, as well as professional salesmen, use ‘cold reading’ to convince their subjects that they can get inside their minds. This is not a conjuring trick but a collection of diverse skills – observation, memory, and the ability to lead a conversation – that allow the reader to gather surprisingly accurate information about the subject. Proficient cold readers first scrutinize their subject’s appearance, speech, and demeanor to gain character clues. They build on this initial profile by making ‘predictions’ that are likely to be true. For example, an affluent subject from a cold climate is likely to be planning a holiday in a hot country, so the statement ‘I see blue waters and palm trees is likely to ring true. Responses to such predictions are carefully monitored, allowing the reader to adjust his or her comments and make more accurate predictions, gaining the subject’s confidence. This is aided by the fact that people are far more likely to remember correct predictions than incorrect ones, as they seem more significant. In one case study, psychic Peter Hurkos carried out a reading that left a subject stunned by its apparently detailed accuracy. Subsequent viewing of a video recording of the reading, however, showed that Hurkos made 14 incorrect statements for everyone that were correct. Cold readers often exploit our willingness to accept any vague statements about our personality, particularly if they are flattering. This is often called the Barnum effect after the circus showman and trickster P.T. Barnum. In one study, people were so convinced that universally appealing statements such as ‘At times you are affable and sociable while at other times you are wary and reserved’ were personalized appraisals of themselves that they gave them an average mark of 4.3 out of 5 for accuracy.
Psychic insight?
In a different category are those mind readers who really believe it is possible to reach into another mind through ‘psychic’ effects such as extra-sensory perception (ESP). But is the skill of such practitioners truly a form of psychic insight – or is it again simply a mix of clever manipulation and mere chance? Studies conducted in the 1950s that ‘proved’ the existence of ESP have since been exposed as frauds, and much subsequent research in the area has been unreliable, at best. One type of study, the Ganzfeld experiment, has opened up a real debate, but the topic remains highly controversial among psychologists.
How To Be a Mind Reader
Some acts of apparent mind-reading are no more than simple deceptions. Here is an example that makes a good party trick. It relies on the collaboration of a ‘plant,’ who needs to be secretly briefed beforehand. First, tell the assembled group that you are about to read their minds. Pass around identical sheets of paper and envelopes. Ask everyone to write down one phrase that is intensely personal to them, and then place this in the envelope. Collect the envelopes, but be sure to put the plant’s entry at the bottom of the pile. Now, take the first envelope from the top of the pile and press it against your forehead in a theatrical way as if you are trying to psychically ‘read’ the paper inside. Make up any old phrase, and speak it out loud prophetically. This is the plant’s cue to shout with amazement, ‘Those are my words. ..how could you possibly have known?’ Open the envelope and read the words to yourself as if checking your answer, then discard the paper. v You will now have read someone’s phrase. Press the next envelope to your forehead as before, and speak the phrase you have read out loud, this time to someone’s real amazement. Repeat the sequence until everyone’s phrase has been read – or someone cotton on to the trick.
Extra-Sensory Experiments
Is it possible to prove the existence of ESP scientifically? In the 1970s, scientists devised an experiment to try just that, and since then, the so-called Ganzfeld experiments have been conducted at several reputable institutions. The idea behind the tests is that by suppressing all normal sensory input (Ganzfeld means ‘whole field’ in German), the subject becomes more susceptible to picking out the weak signals supposedly involved in ESP. The subject’s eyes are covered with semi opaque material and bathed in red light while white noise is fed to him or her through headphones. A second person in another room then attempts to ‘transmit’ a visual image from a selection of four, and the subject attempts to identify the image. In 1994, Daryl Bern and Charles Honorton (of Cornell and Edinburgh universities) analyzed the published data from Ganzfeld’s experiments. On average, they found that subjects identified the right image 35 percent of the time – a hit rate significantly higher than chance. Many scientists then set about finding flaws in either the experimental technique or the analysis. In 1999, a rival analysis found that the Ganzfeld tests, in fact, did not indicate ESP whatsoever.
