The Rules of the Game

Ray Hyman, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Oregon, explains how to become a successful character reader in "Cold Reading: How to Convince Strangers That You Know All About Them"

1. 1. Confidence can sell even a bad reading to most subjects. Look like you believe and know what you are doing.

2. Make creative use of the latest statistical abstracts, polls and surveys.

3. Set the stage for the reading. Profess modesty and make no excessive claims. This catches your subject off guard.

4. Gain cooperation in advance. This is crucial. The more the subject is made an active participant, the more successful the reading. The good reader, deliberately or unwittingly, forces the subject to actively make sense of statements by searching his memory.

5. Use a gimmick such as a crystal ball, Tarot cards or palm reading. It lends an air of novelty but, more importantly, it serves as a cover to stall and to formulate your next statement.

6. Have a list of prepared phrases at the tip of your tongue. The liberal sprinkling of these statements will add body to the reading and will fill in time allowing you to form more precise characterizations.

7. Keep your eyes open. Watch for the impact of your statements. Very quickly you will learn when you are "hitting home" and when you are "missing the boat."

8. Use the technique of "fishing," i.e. getting the subject to talk about himself. Then rephrase what he has said and feed it back to him. One type of fishing is to phrase each statement in the form of a question. Often the subject will respond by answering the implied question and then some. Later he will tend to forget that he was the source of the information.

9. Learn to be a good listener. During the course of a reading your subject will be bursting to talk. The good reader allows the subject to talk at will.

10. Dramatize the reading. Make it seem more than it is. Don't be afraid of hamming it up.

11. Always give the impression that you know more. Once the subject believes you know something that you could not possibly know, he will automatically assume you know all. At this point he will typically open up and confide more.

12. Don't be afraid to flatter the subject at every chance. A subject may protest, but will still enjoy it. In such cases, flatter him further by saying, "You are always suspicious of people who flatter you. You just can't believe that someone would say good things about you without an ulterior motive."

13. Finally, remember the golden rule. Tell the subject what he wants to hear.