Blog Post #2- Cold Reading

    One of my favorite people we learned about in this class was Darren Brown. I thought it was amazing how he doesn’t believe in psychics or anything related but could trick people into thinking he was one based off his knowledge on the subject. My favorite video was the one where he went to convince a psychic that he had psychic abilities by reading a room of skeptics. He started by making a vague statement about someone he was communicating with. He waited until someone reacted then went with that person and continued to make vague suggestions, leading the person on. The one I found the most interesting was when he was mentioned hats and the elevator, both which are vague objects people commonly come in contact with, but they seemed so specific to the person. The subject confirmed the person she lost loved hats, and she had a dream that she had died in an elevator. Psychics want to help people have closure with loved ones who have passed, but I feel like it can be harmful because it is just cold reading. It consists of leading the person with vague suggestions, who then draws connections between the statements the psychic is making. It might help them heal but it is also deceiving them (and probably costing them a good amount of money) while they are in an emotional, vulnerable state.