What Is Cold Reading?

If you enjoy books, movies, or TV shows about psychics, mediums, or mind readers, you’ve probably seen cold reading in action. Cold reading is a technique where someone appears to know much more about a person than they actually do. This method is widely used by fortune tellers, mentalists, illusionists, and others. It helps them extract information, build rapport, and convince people of their extraordinary abilities. Sometimes, cold reading is combined with hot reading. Let’s break down these techniques and how they work.

For simplicity, in this article, we’ll refer to anyone using cold or hot reading as a mentalist, and the person being read as a volunteer.

How Cold Reading Works

Cold reading is based on the mentalist analyzing the volunteer and making preliminary assumptions based on their appearance, presumed social status, clothing, belongings—essentially, anything visible. The mentalist then presents these thoughts in a way that makes it seem like they’ve gained precise knowledge about a stranger through supernatural means (mind reading, cosmic information, communication with spirits, etc.).

This technique is similar to how Sherlock Holmes drew conclusions from observation, but while Holmes aimed to establish facts, the mentalist’s goal is to convince others that they possess magical knowledge about the volunteer, even if it’s their first meeting. Cold reading helps the mentalist gain trust and credibility for their “abilities.”

Methods and Techniques of Cold Reading

• Vague but Seemingly Specific Statements: The mentalist phrases statements to sound specific but are actually broad and ambiguous. This often prompts the volunteer to respond and provide more information. The technique relies on the volunteer latching onto what resonates with them and ignoring the rest. For example, “I see an older woman played a significant role in your life, but I’m not talking about your mother.” Most people can recall such a figure—an aunt, teacher, or neighbor. To an older person, “I sense you’ve lost someone close to you” is likely to be true, and “loss” can mean anything from death to a falling out.
• The Barnum or Forer Effect: People tend to accept vague, general statements as highly accurate for themselves. This is called the Barnum effect. The practice of making broad statements that cover a wide range of possibilities is known as the “shotgun approach.”
• Seeming Specificity: Despite being general, the statements must appear specific. The mentalist uses observations about appearance, gestures, behavior, and reactions to make their statements more convincing. Cold reading requires keen observation and attention to detail.
• Positive Statements: Most people agree with positive descriptions or statements that cast them in a good light. These should be universal but believable, such as, “I sense you once helped someone you barely knew, and it had a big impact on their life, even if you’re unaware of it.”
• Reading Reactions: The mentalist closely watches for nonverbal cues in response to their statements. This helps them adjust their approach and refine their “supernatural” insights. For example, “I sense your mother played a big role in your life… No, not your mother, another older woman.” To gauge agreement or disagreement, the mentalist may start with neutral questions whose answers are obvious, similar to polygraph testing.
• Quickly Changing the Subject: If a guess is wrong, the mentalist swiftly shifts the conversation to something else.

How does the mentalist get information? First, the way questions are phrased encourages responses. Second, people are often so impressed by accurate guesses that they volunteer even more information themselves, like, “How did you know about Aunt Gail? She was my favorite teacher!”

What Is Hot Reading?

Hot reading is when the mentalist uses information obtained in advance about the volunteer. This could involve researching social media, overhearing conversations, or having an assistant gather details before the show. For example, before a magic show, assistants may mingle with the audience to collect information and pass it to the mentalist. A psychic might look up a client online before a session.

With hot reading, the mentalist’s goal is to present facts as if they were just discovered through paranormal means. For instance, if the mentalist saw the volunteer’s Instagram photo of eating lobster last night, they wouldn’t say, “I see you ate lobster at such-and-such restaurant yesterday.” Instead, they’d say, “I sense you treated yourself to something special and expensive yesterday… or maybe someone treated you?”

Is There Such a Thing as Warm Reading?

In addition to hot and cold reading, some experts mention warm reading. This term is less common and is often considered a subset of cold reading. Warm reading typically refers to using the Barnum effect—making statements so vague and statistically likely that they’re almost guaranteed to be true. Volunteers focus on what applies to them and perceive these generalities as accurate, personal information the medium couldn’t have known in advance.

How to Learn Cold Reading

Cold and hot reading are used in various shows by fortune tellers, psychics, and more. However, these techniques can also be useful in everyday situations, such as meeting new people. To start a conversation, attract attention, and appear insightful, you only need to use one or two cold reading phrases. Cold reading is especially helpful for salespeople or anyone who needs to persuade others. Guesses based on this method help you come across as experienced and trustworthy.

Tips for Learning Cold Reading

The universal advice for learning cold reading is to practice. Watch others use the technique and try “reading” people yourself. The more you practice, the better you’ll get. Three key points to remember:

• Notice Details: Don’t just look at people—observe and pick up on details.
• Draw Conclusions: Use those details to make inferences. These skills are useful beyond cold reading. You don’t need Sherlock Holmes-level deductions, nor do you need to be perfectly accurate. Good cold reading goes beyond generic statements or flattery; you should notice something unique and draw a conclusion about the person’s traits.
• Be Charismatic and Theatrical: Charisma and showmanship help you get away with inevitable mistakes or inaccuracies.

Here are some practical tips:

• Keep statements positive and appropriate. For example, in a job interview, don’t tell a potential boss that an older woman whose name ends in “A” or “Y” played a big role in their life. Instead, focus on professional qualities and success.
• Avoid being too specific. Use phrases like “Sometimes,” “Occasionally,” or “In many cases.” This makes it harder for people to disagree and avoids negative reactions that blunt statements can provoke.
• Reference your “sources.” In everyday use, don’t claim supernatural powers. Say things like, “My intuition tells me,” or “Based on my experience,” to explain your assumptions.

With practice and attention to detail, anyone can improve their cold reading skills and use them to make a strong impression in both professional and personal settings.