Skeptoid #825: How Psychic Readings Work

Skeptoid

Brian Dunning

Skeptic, Social Sciences, Skepticism, Paranormal, Conspiracy Theories, Urban Legends, Science, History

4.6 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 29 March 2022

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Whether cold reading, warm reading, or hot, there are simple explanations for even the most impressive psychic performances.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Everyone loves a good superpower.
0:06.2	We all wish they were real, we all want to have them, and we all wish they were out there
0:10.8	to help us when we need it.
0:12.8	So most of us are always hopeful that psychic powers might prove to be real, and when
0:18.8	a lot of people wish for something, the charlatans come charging in to sell it to them.
0:24.6	Today we're going to find out just how they sell the reality of psychic powers.
0:31.2	That's right now, UnSkeptoid.
0:38.6	You're listening to Skeptoid, I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.
0:43.5	How psychic readings work.
0:47.2	Today we're going to pull back the curtain of one of the oldest professions in human history.
0:52.6	Call it fortune telling, call it contacting the dead, call it a psychic reading.
0:57.7	It's all basically the same thing.
0:59.6	A reader telling a subject information that they could not possibly know without some
1:04.7	guidance from beyond the grave, from a divine source, from spirits, or some other supernatural
1:11.1	wellspring.
1:12.9	How does one make a living selling such guidance without a reliable way to generate the product?
1:18.6	Well, wouldn't you know it, there is just such a thing out there.
1:22.5	In fact, there are several such ways to create the product.
1:26.4	Some easy, some requiring more skill and practice.
1:30.2	By the end of this episode, we'll all be able to do it.
1:35.4	Many longtime Skeptoid listeners have probably read and heard plenty on this subject before,
1:40.8	so there might be some of you for whom this information is nothing new.
	...

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