History Main / ColdReading

* The PhonyPsychic villain of the ''LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' episode "Pure" does this to the cops.

* The very first episode of ''PennAndTellerBullshit'' targeted spiritualists, and discussed cold reading extensively.

* There's a whole scene based around this trope in ''JohnDoe''.

* Parodied in ''ElGoonishShive'' when Grace and Ellen go to school for the first time, and one of the teachers pretends to deduce things about them upon first glance, leading to a confused comment about "... a duplicate squirrel of some sort." Grace is a part-squirrel shapeshifting alien chimaera, and Ellen is a literal OppositeSexClone (of Elliot), so he was, in fact, unsettlingly close.

* There's an episode of ''SouthPark'' where Stan calls out John Edward on this, and then to prove that he's a fake Stan learns about cold readings and tries it out. People then start thinking ''he's'' psychic and he ends up with his own show.

Let's give a hypothetical example -- Ziva David and Tony [=DiNozzo=] from ''{{NCIS}}''.

* ''{{Psych}}''

* Played with on ''[[ThirdRockFromTheSun 3rd Rock From The Sun]]''. When Mary goes to a psychic, Dick points out that the psychic is doing this. Then the psychic makes some vague generalisations about Dick. He immediately interprets them as referring to his extraterrestrial origins and panics.

* ''{{Leverage}}'' has an episode where the team takes down a PhonyPsychic who is using cold reading, among other techniques. [[BerserkButton After successfully using them on]] [[NoSocialSkills Parker]], [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome the team convinces him that they are really psychic.]]

Often occurs in stuff where [[PhonyPsychic "psychics"]] might be involved. One character pretends to be psychic towards another, usually TheWatson. In reality, they're just very good at observation, good with broad generalizations and have probably gone through the other person's bag.

* On''{{Hustle}}'' the team, primarily Albert, often uses these techniques on a mark.

* ''{{Leverage}}'' has an episode where the team takes down a PhonyPsychic who is using cold reading, among other techniques. [[BeserkButton After successfully using them on]] [[NoSocialSkills Parker]], [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome the team convinces him that they are really psychic.]]

* ''{{Hustle}}''

* ''{{Leverage}}'' has an episode where the team takes down a phony psychic who is using cold reading, among other techniques.

* Mentioned frequently in ChristopherBrookmyre's ''Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks'', and a tool frequently relied on by [[spoiler: Moira Loftus]] and less frequently by [[spoiler: Gabriel Lafayette]]

* ''{{Leverage}}'' has an episode where the team takes down a phonypsychic who is using cold reading, among other techniques.

*** He wins against a literal giant douche...

* ''JonathanCreek''

* Professor Marvel on ''TheWizardOfOz'' uses this on Dorothy to convince her to go back to her farm.

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# People have a tendency to take generalized statements and personalize them, believing that they apply specifically to themselves. Everyone has "a side of themselves that they don't want others to see", for example. This is the same reason why people believe in horoscopes despite there being twelve predictions for roughly seven billion people.

* Jonathan Edward had his audience sign confidentiality contracts so that they won't discuss his use of the technique. His tapings lasted for upwards of two hours. Those who've attended his live shows tend to be ''extremely'' dismissive of his performance.

* There's an episode of ''SouthPark'' where Stan calls out Jonathan Edwards on this, and then to prove that he's a fake Stan learns about cold readings and tries it out. People then start thinking ''he's'' psychic and he ends up with his own show.
** The episode, incidentally, is called "The Biggest Douche In The Universe", and ends with Edwards being abducted by aliens to serve as a contestant in a literal Biggest Douche in the Universe contest.

* Parodied on ''FamilyGuy'' where Jonathan Edwards goes through most of the entire alphabet trying to guess Peter's name, and it's Peter himself who blurts it out once Edwards gets to the correct letter.

* There's an episode of ''SouthPark'' where Stan calls out Jonathan Edward on this, and then to prove that he's a fake Stan learns about cold readings and tries it out. People then start thinking ''he's'' psychic and he ends up with his own show.
** The episode, incidentally, is called "The Biggest Douche In The Universe", and ends with Edward being abducted by aliens to serve as a contestant in a literal Biggest Douche in the Universe contest.

-->'''Gibbs:''' How did she know ''what'', [=DiNizzo=]? Come on, get the truck!

* ''XXXHolic'' has Yuuko teaching Watanuki the difference between a PhonyPsychic who charges for simply doing this, and a real psychic who guesses everything about Watanuki, from his name to his ability to see ghosts, without even asking.

# People have a tendency to take generalized statements and personalize them, believing that they apply specifically to themselves. Everyone has "a side of themselves that they don't want others to see", for example. This is the same reason why people believe in horoscopes despite there being twelve predictions for roughly [[strike: three]] seven billion people.