Imagine speaking with someone you’ve never met before, and he tells you to think of a word. Within the next five minutes, he’s telling you the word you’ve been thinking.
And so there you are, standing (or sitting) in disbelief, completely convinced that he’s just read your mind – just like magic.
How do mentalists guess words?
Mentalists adamantly say that what they do is not magic. Despite successfully eliciting a feeling of amazement from their audience, in truth, there is nothing supernatural about what they do.
The long and the short of it is this: mentalists don’t read minds — they read people.
Understanding How Mentalists Guess Words
People often misconstrue mentalism as something mystical — that, or it’s some form of clairvoyance or telepathy.
In reality, it’s a set of skills and techniques used by mentalists to give the audience that impression. In other words, it’s all set up that way.
Telepathic mind-reading isn’t at play when mentalists guess words, names, numbers, or even images, but they work extremely hard to make it seem so. They’re very adept at using their five senses to create the illusion of a sixth one.
To do that, they read into body language, micro-expressions, and much more.
Check out this video demonstrating this:
Sometimes, though, it’s not about reading the subject. There are performances wherein mentalists will plant an idea (or an image or a word) in a subject’s head and then “guesses” it.
It still lines up with the impression they set out to achieve in the first place — that they can get in your head and read your thoughts.
Methods Mentalists Use to Achieve the Mind Reading Effect
It’s time to strip away the magic and understand the science behind these fantastic experiences.
During mentalist performances, there are two paths taken at the beginning.
Some mentalists will claim that they can read your mind. All the actions they take afterward are proof that they can live up to their word.
Others tell their subjects upfront that they can’t read their minds and that what they’re about to do is in no way magical. But then they deliver their performance so flawlessly that by the time the trick is over, the subject (and audience) still end up thinking they have abilities that go beyond the natural world.
Regardless of which opening they take, mentalists often mix and match several techniques to make their performances come alive. These techniques gather information from an unsuspecting subject — and by using this data, mentalists make educated guesses about what they’re thinking.
Let’s look at these techniques.
Anchoring Through Neuro-Linguistic Programming
Neuro-Linguistic Programming or NLP is used to change a person’s behaviors or thoughts to get the desired outcome for them. It applies to several fields, including marketing, counseling, and the performing arts.
As mentalism is often defined as performance art, it’s no surprise that NLP is one technique used to achieve the effect of mind reading.
There are several methods within NLP, but the one often used in mentalism is anchoring, which uses sensory experiences to trigger specific emotional states.
Anchoring reinforces a suggestion made by a mentalist by using stimulation. These triggers can come in three forms — visual, auditory, and physical.
- Visual triggers can be as simple as a nod. When asking subjects to choose a color or a number, a mentalist may nod his head from time to time as he talks. He times his nods with the words he says associated with what he wants the subject to choose.
- Auditory triggers are words slipped in by a mentalist that points the subject’s attention to a specific topic.
For example, if you want your subject to think of a bicycle, you might mention words like “handle” and “cycle” while you’re speaking. Both terms have various meanings, and their connection to the topic isn’t glaring.
A step further is implanting initials or specific letters — like a BMW or an Xbox, highlighting the B, the M, and the X.
How do you emphasize it? By combining it with a physical trigger.
- Physical triggers are typically simple touches on the arm or pats on the knee. It’s a small, inconspicuous gesture, but it makes a lot of impact. If you use it with either a visual or a verbal trigger, it creates stimulation at the right moment.
Even if you’re unaware of it, your subconscious connects these two things — what you hear and feel. It also allows the anchor to carry more weight — to the point that even if you mention something in the realm of your chosen topic, the subject becomes more susceptible to it even without the tap.
Derren Brown, one of the most popular mentalists today, usually uses a combination of all three, allowing his anchor to carry more weight:
Pre-Performance Priming
There’s a strategy in marketing that involves making sure your brand is seen by your target at least three times for it to become top of mind. Priming follows the same logic.
This technique, as the name implies, involves exposing the subject to whatever it is that you want him to think about later on. The challenge in doing priming is it requires extensive legwork to stack things in your favor.
Check out this video of Derren Brown using pre-performance priming to let you think of the 3 of diamonds:
In pop culture, Will Smith’s character used priming in the 2015 film Focus. Smith makes a bet with an Asian businessman, saying he can guess whatever number he thinks of.
There’s an added twist in the film – bringing in a third person in the act, with Margot Robbie’s character correctly calling out the number 55.
If you watch it a bit longer, Smith’s character explains how he made the businessman choose the number 55 — he made sure that he was exposed to it (although unknowingly) multiple times before the betting scene.
Banking on Probabilities
In this list, this is probably the least complex technique of all.
Some tricks are designed so that on most occasions, the subject will give the standard answer. The mentalist banks on his subject to think of what is commonly known.
The best example of this is the Gray Elephant in Denmark trick.
The calculations are to misdirect the mind. The result of this math always lands at 4. And if you correspond that to the alphabet, you get D.
So if you think of a country that starts with D, the first answer your mind thinks of is Denmark. And the same is true with the elephant.
This is how mentalists use the ‘banking of probabilities’ technique.
As The Curtain Closes
Knowing the techniques behind astounding mind reading performances isn’t supposed to take the wonder out of it. It aims to make aspiring mentalists understand that there is a process behind every successful act. And a process is always repeatable.
Mentalism techniques vary in terms of complexity — there’s nothing wrong with starting with something simple and working your way up the ladder.
If you want to be a great mentalist, you’ll need to invest time and effort. So what are you waiting for? Practice and try out these mind-reading techniques with family and friends.