Any person who’s ever witnessed mentalism first-hand will be intrigued (or even miffed) by the entire concept. After all, the ability to read other people’s minds is a superpower we only ever see in movies.
Until proof of telepathic mutants’ or mind-reading Martians’ non-existence surfaces, who’s to say how these mentalists are really doing their tricks?
If you’re wracking your head for answers, you’ve come to the right place.
Below, we’ll be revealing some of the biggest mentalism secrets you should know.
The Biggest Mentalism Secrets
Mentalism is all about understanding the human mind and identifying fault lines that you can later use to your advantage.
Yes, unfortunately, the secrets of mentalism don’t involve having psychic powers or one-on-one training sessions with the great Professor X.
Mentalists have a deep understanding of human behaviors and psychology. They also have sharp observational skills, which they use to misdirect and fool their audiences into thinking that what they’re witnessing is “magic.”
(The brain is a powerful organ that can process immense quantities of information at a time. But it’s also incredibly susceptible to trickery and manipulation.)
With all that said, let’s look at the biggest mentalism secrets you should know.
SECRET #1: Suggestion
Suggestion is a technique that mentalists use to guide their audience’s feelings, thoughts, opinions, and behaviors. Using this technique, mentalists can control the results of a certain situation without participants realizing what’s going on.
A few examples could be simple things such as a subtle hand gesture, a clever play of words, using certain colors, background music, etc.
These things help a mentalist influence a person’s subconscious mind, making them believe what the mentalist wants them to believe.
Watch as famous mentalist Derren Brown uses suggestion to read this person’s mind:
SECRET #2: Barnum Statements
Barnum statements are general statements that are told (or written) in such a way that makes a person feel like the statements are describing them. However, Barnum statements are often applicable to everyone.
This technique is often used by “psychics” and mediums to make subjects think that they have insight into a subject’s character.
You can also see this technique used in various online personality tests.
Here’s one example of a Barnum statement:
“You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations.”
Some people may feel like this statement is describing them exactly when in reality, plenty of people can relate to the statement.
SECRET #3: Misdirection
This next technique takes advantage of the limits of the human mind to concentrate on only one thing at a time.
With misdirection, an audience is made to focus on one thing to distract their attention from another. The mentalist does this by distracting the audience with something completely unrelated to the trick so they can proceed to gain information without their audience noticing.
There are different ways to use misdirection when doing a trick, but the three most common ways are to cover a move, hide a method, or give the subject a false memory of the situation.
Here’s another intriguing video from Derren Brown:
See how he distracted James Corden with eating glass shards while he continued to gather more information from James to complete his trick?
It’s a classic and one of the first few tricks every mentalist learns to play.
SECRET #4: Forces
This is basically when a mentalist uses one of their many methods to “force” a given result and make it seem like it’s a “free choice.”
Magicians use this technique in many of their card tricks.
For instance, they might say “pick a card” but as they rifle through the deck in their hands, no matter where you say stop, the magician will ultimately cut to the card that they want to force on you.
Here’s a video of Derren Brown wowing Martin Freeman and Amanda Abbington with this simple card trick:
Another way a mentalist can use forces is with tricks like Gray Elephant from Denmark and It’s Always Five.
SECRET #5: Cold Readings
Mentalists, psychics, mediums — all of them use cold readings as part of their acts.
During cold readings, the mentalist uses high-probability guesses, quickly picking up on signals as to whether their guesses are correct or not. They then emphasize and reinforce “chance connections” and quickly move on from misses guesses.
If you’re interested to learn more about the art and science of cold readings, this video on how to be a mentalist can help:
SECRET #6: Body Language Reading
Everyone fancies themselves a great judge of character, but nobody can read body language better than a mentalist.
A great mentalist can tell a person’s mood and feelings just by their stance; tell if a subject is lying or telling the truth just by the tilt of their head.
Mentalists typically read their subject’s body language through their eyes, lips, posture, and facial expressions.
Magic vs Mentalism
Although they’re closely related, there are several subtle differences between magic and mentalism.
Some of the most common are:
Focus
Magicians do all sorts of extravagant tricks, like submerging themselves hand-cuffed in shark-infested waters or having their assistant stick swords into a box while they silently sit inside and coming out scratchless and unharmed.
But a mentalist’s purpose is to make his audience think he has psychic powers that help him read other people’s minds.
Delivery
Since magicians and mentalists have different goals in mind, they also have different delivery styles.
For instance, magic shows are a lot like theater shows. This is why magic shows are often hosted on stages, and the magician and his assistant/s wears very flamboyant costumes — for character flair.
Alternatively, a mentalist wants their audience to believe in the possibility that they really have supernatural abilities. This is why mentalist shows emphasize interaction and create a narrative to convince the audience that no trickery is afoot.
The Bottom Line
There are tons of ways a mentalist can get into the heads of their audiences. From trickery to misdirection — it can be difficult to keep up. But with this guide, you might have a chance.
The next time you watch a mentalist show, pay close attention to the way a mentalist speaks, acts, and moves. These can all be subtle signs that will give away their act.