Mediums and Cold Readings

Mediums claim they can “speak” to a person who has already passed away. I went to the website www.aremedimsreal.org to find out more about mediums and their “ability”. Scientifically, there is little to no support for mediums. Mediums often say things that are very general and vague. Mediums are successful in what is known as “cold reading.” This is when a person uses techniques to get another person to believe that the medium actually has the ability to know information about his/her life without any prior knowledge about them. For example, mediums will often use common things that are universal to the majority of people.  Mediums often can “fish for details” which means that they will say something vague, and then respond to the reaction of that person.

So with this in mind, why do people still believe in mediums? The website www.aremediumsreal.org explains that people go to mediums to talk to their loved ones that have passed, so it is emotional for them. People will WANT to believe what the medium is saying. If a medium is saying that their grandma wanted to tell them something, that person is going to be emotional and want to believe it. Also, television shows such as TLC’s Long Island Medium, featuring Theresa Caputo, shows real life people being read by her. The following link shows an example of this: http://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/long-island-medium/videos/spontaneous-reading.htm .