Mentalism is often associated with magic, but in reality, it’s so much more than that.
It‘s a concept that originated in Europe and is based on psychology. Its history, however, goes back further than that. Mentalism is rooted in suggestive magic, which can be traced to thousands of years in the past in one form or another.
Highly skilled mentalists appear to have uncanny mental or intuitive abilities. Their performances often include acts of hypnosis, telepathy, clairvoyance, and divination.
But what’s the science behind the magic?
Read on to find out.
Performance Art and the Science Behind It
Most definitions of mentalism say it’s performance art, which is true. Over the years, modern-day mentalism has evolved and now includes cold reading, telepathy, and rapid match.
Saying that mentalist performances are artistic is accurate, but behind the theatrics lies a great deal of science.
The acts mentioned earlier share similar origins – they all require the same fundamental skills of misdirection, mind manipulation, and body language reading.
Mentalists often depend on how a person responds to create the impression that they can read minds. In turn, he can influence a person’s behavior using a deep understanding of body language and non-verbal communication.
In short, to be a great mentalist, you have to be interested in human behavior. You also need to have a certain amount of knowledge about psychology.
We’ll repeat ourselves, “Saying mentalism is a performance art is correct. But behind the theatrics lies a great deal of science.”
Mentalism and the Four Main Goals in Psychology
According to the American Psychological Association, psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. More than just knowing what it is, however, it’s crucial to understand what it does.
The field of psychology has four main goals:
- To describe. The initial goal of psychology is to describe human behavior. It allows us to understand it better and draw the line between what is considered normal and abnormal. It also results in learning more about why the behavior happens and how to change it.
- To explain. More than just describing behavior, psychology also seeks to understand the reason behind it. Why do people do what they do?
- To predict. Since we’ve already delved into explaining human behaviors, the next logical step is anticipating them. Knowing what happens and what causes behaviors gives information predicting when and how it may occur in the future.
- To change. Among the four goals of psychology, the ability to change, control, or influence behavior is considered the most important.
The psychology in mentalism is about understanding human behavior. It also includes knowing how you, as a mentalist, can influence another person’s behavior through mind manipulation or choosing to use non-verbal communication as a tool to create the illusion of mind-reading.
Understanding the four goals makes it easier for us to understand the role psychology plays in mentalism.
Mentalism and the Human Brain
How well a mentalist performs hinges on his ability to tap into the subject’s subconscious. Doing this requires knowledge about the human brain and its two sides.
Imagine an iceberg floating in the ocean. The part that’s visible above the waterline is our conscious mind. It is what people see as well – people’s behaviors and actions.
Underneath the water, though, is the more massive part of the iceberg. It is the other side of our mind — the subconscious.
The Conscious Mind
Mentalists have to tap into the subconscious of someone for mentalist techniques to be effective.
Note: The subconscious mind directs the conscious one. It’s much like how the larger lower half of the iceberg, and the water surrounding it, guides the tip.
The conscious mind’s primary functions include willpower, temporary memory, analytical thought process, and rational thinking. The last is particularly crucial because it’s the function allowing you to justify your actions and beliefs — it’s what makes you capable of deciding between what you will or won’t do.
Techniques to Bypass the Conscious Mind
The critical faculty, which is another term for the conscious mind, uses logic as its language. It’s what guards the subconscious, acting as a filter for the information.
The good news for mentalists is that the critical faculty isn’t impenetrable. Two techniques easily bypass it – hypnosis and mentalism.
Hypnosis is a process that relaxes the mind, making the critical faculty lower its guard. When this happens, you can speak directly to a person’s subconscious.
Mentalists know a person doesn’t necessarily have to be in a hypnotic state to get hypnotized. They know their subconscious can be tapped without them knowing it. It is where the power of suggestion comes in handy.
The subconscious mind will always be open to suggestions in different forms, such as sights, images, or sounds. A good mentalist can trick a person to believe an idea or an image even if it isn’t true since the subconscious cannot differentiate between what is real and what is not.
Psychology in Mentalism
Mentalism focuses on mental awareness, cognition, and mental symbolism. Psychology is the primary research field, considering the theories, techniques, principles, and practices involved in mentalism.
According to the likes of Rene Descartes, Immanuel Kant, and Baruch Spinoza, psychology aims to reach the heart of human patterns of behavior in connection to people’s thoughts and their clarity.
Mentalism is a branch of psychology and deals with tricks and illusions. It focuses on the power of the mind.
Part of being a good mentalist is understanding the human brain and using its limitations to his advantage. Some psychological skills and techniques have proven to be valuable to a mentalist.
Similarly, you can use several physiological and psychological principles to manipulate people into believing your performances are genuine and supernatural. The more you know about these, the more mental instruments you have in your toolkit.
Psychological Techniques to Use in Mentalism
One technique that you can use to manipulate a person’s mind is called neuro-linguistic programming. If honed, NLP can alter how people respond to you.
Other topics you can look into are choice blindness, which suggests that people are not always aware of their choices and preferences. It’s part of a cognitive phenomenon called introspection illusion.
Research says that after you’ve made a choice, there’s a possibility you may not even notice if you don’t get what you want. You may even end up defending a decision just because you think it’s the one you made.
Other similar subjects that should be of interest are the power of suggestion and reading body language.
Wrapping Things Up
If you want to make the most of your journey to being a mentalist, don’t just read up on a singular topic. Expand your knowledge in the field of psychology and the broad array of techniques that it offers.
Although it’s accurately defined as performance art, mentalism is more than just putting on a show. A good mentalist needs to have a good understanding of the theater, but knowledge in psychology makes him even more excellent in his performance.