For centuries, audiences around the world thought of mentalism as some sort of supernatural power.
Mind reading, telekinesis, telepathy, mind control, and clairvoyance are just some of the extraordinary powers mentalists are believed to possess.
But is mentalism real? Or, is it some form of trickery?
Read on to learn if it is real or not, the basics of Mentalism, and how you can be a mentalist.
Let’s get started.
What is Mentalism?
Is mentalism a supernatural power?
The simple answer: no.
More than anything, mentalism is a performance.
Some would argue that mentalism is 80% performance.
So, while your friends and family know that you don’t have any special powers, the goal is to have them rethink the possibility even just for a split second.
Mentalism is a subtle performance that tricks the mind for entertainment.
When performed believably, a mentalist will appear to have extraordinary mental prowess and supernatural powers.
Because of these mental tricks, mentalists have a reputation as modern-day psychics.
Magic vs. Mentalism: How is Mentalism Different?
Traditional magic tricks will often bring up the question, “How did you DO that?”
Mentalism, on the other hand, will more often than not elicit the question, “How did you KNOW that?”
Some mentalists would argue that mentalism is completely different from the foundations of magic.
Mentalism involves a highly developed understanding of human psychology and body language. In this way, mentalists can influence beliefs and emotions, often inducing extraordinary psychological experiences.
While magicians use theatrical tricks, sleight of hand, and misdirection to induce visual illusions, mentalists explore suggestion, psychology, body language, and influence to perform magic for the mind and imagination.
Most mentalists will forgo any form of theatrical illusions and traditional tricks, opting to add predicting the future and mind reading into their repertoire instead.
How Do Mentalists Do It?
A mentalist is a performer who masquerades as a psychic. With their deep understanding of psychology and theater, mentalists can pull audiences and influence their beliefs.
A mentalist is well-versed in the technical foundations of mentalism, psychological theories, body language, suggestion, cold reading, and most of all, showmanship.
Here are some of the qualities and characteristics that a successful mentalist will possess:
- Passionate
- Curious
- Charismatic
- Bold and confident
- Hardworking (practice makes perfect!)
- Believable
- Showmanship
Many famous mentalists believe that the bulk of success lies heavily in showmanship and believability rather than the technical methods.
In short, a successful mentalist builds a strong mentalist mindset to appear believable, organic, and natural.
How Does Mentalism Work?
The foundation of mentalism relies greatly on the power of the brain to process everything in an instant. However, this understanding of the brain also demonstrates how easy it is to trick the mind.
Mentalism is all about reading body language and predicting human behavior and reactions, which appear to most people as mind reading.
Basics of Mentalism
Mentalists will have their own unique style and method, but most will rely on the basic foundations of mentalism to achieve successful results.
The basic foundations are:
- Cold reading
- Suggestion
- Power of persuasion
- Lip-reading
- Misdirection
- Body language
Let’s discuss each one.
Cold Reading
Cold reading is often used by mediums, psychics, and even hotel clerks to make quick educated guesses or inductions about their clients.
Cold reading mostly involves reference points like race, age, body language, clothing, and facial expressions.
More often than not, these guesses manifest the Barnum Effect, a phenomenon when individuals think that a statement applies specifically to their personalities.
In reality, Barnum statements apply to a massive population of people, similar to how horoscopes work.
Suggestion
This aspect of mentalism also deals heavily with psychology.
With suggestions, mentalists can bypass the conscious mind and directly speak to the subconscious.
Mentalists can use hypnosis or more subtle input of ideas, thoughts, and answers. Believe it or not, these inputs/suggestions are often claimed by participants as their own.
Check out how world-famous Derren Brown makes shape and number suggestions with his hands on this mentalism card trick video:
Power of Persuasion
Mentalists have such a deep understanding of human psychology that they know exactly which buttons to push to make audiences believe in the unbelievable.
In short, they are stage performers who wield the power of persuasion in their favor, often prompting the audience to question reality.
Lip Reading
If a mentalist asks a person to think of a number, word, place, or name, the lip-reading method will work great.
Mentalists ask them to keep repeating the word in their minds, and more often than not, participants will start mouthing the word with their lips.
Another trick to this observational technique is to distract the audience with something completely random while asking the participant to repeat the words in their head.
As the participant is trying hard to focus on the word, it is highly likely that they will subtly move their lips.
Mentalists will also use this trick on large audiences. As they scan the crowd, they’ll start singling out audience members who visibly gave out their answers by moving their lips.
Misdirection
Mentalists often need years of practice to perfect the clever and subtle use of misdirection to manipulate audiences.
Misdirection is a skill used to control the attention of audiences and distract them from others.
A mentalist can distract the audience by repeating an unrelated keyword or asking the audience to focus on another thing while taking their attention away from where the deception is occurring.
The theory behind this is that most of the time, the human mind can only focus on a single item at a time to give an accurate answer.
In short, misdirection involves the audience’s sensory input and perception, leading them to form false conclusions.
Body Language
Mentalism owes much of its success to the powerful tool of reading body language.
By observing facial expressions, muscle tension, and body language, mentalists can notice slight changes and nuances to make an educated guess.
Check out this video to see how a mentalist uses body language to guess a PIN number:
Conclusion: Is Mentalism Real?
Mentalism is real, but for entirely different reasons than you might think. It’s not about supernatural powers or mind reading.
Mentalism is all about understanding human psychology to perform believable mind tricks based on suggestion, persuasion, misdirection, and many more.
With practice and experience, anybody can become a successful mentalist!
For more tips and strategies on how to impress audiences with mentalism, visit Magic Mentalism.