History Main / ColdReading

* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': "[[Recap/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnitS6E18Pure Pure]]" involves a SerialKiller making a living as a PhonyPsychic and who shows up at the station during a kidnapping. Stabler is dismissive, but he appears to give accurate information about the whereabouts of the victim. Later, he's shown giving Stabler a reading while Benson, Sgt. Cragen, and Dr. Huang are observing. Huang says that he's accurate because he's cold reading Stabler, and then shows an online database of facial movements that can be used to train people to either be exceptional lie detectors or exceptional cold readers. The psychic then reads Benson, who's giving false information and trying to not give any facial tells, but his reading is still accurate...because, as is later discovered, he'd used a specialized online search engine to get info on her and Stabler, as well as his victims.

%% * The PhonyPsychic villain of the ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' episode "Pure" does this to the cops, despite their attempts to suppress their emotional reactions.

%% * Discussed and demonstrated on an episode of ''Series/{{QI}}''.

For reference, the opposite of Cold Reading is "Hot Reading," where the supposed reader is secretly fed information about a subject he claims to know nothing about. The most notorious is Peter Popoff, a televangelist who claimed a divine power of prophecy about strangers, which was actually supplied by his wife who read him information about them through a secret radio earpiece during his services. He was eventually exposed by Creator/JamesRandi who managed to tap into the radio frequency to listen in, not that it stopped the scammer from bouncing back eventually with a new variant of his scheme.

* ''Manga/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. Yuuko even asks the phony whether it will rain, and she replied that it won't, according to the meterologist that morning. Yuuko asked the same thing to the real psychic, to which the psychic replied that it will rain, and seconds later, it did indeed rain from a seemingly clear sky.\\\
She also made a distinction unusual for the subject matter and an occult setting, stating that there's nothing wrong with being a fortune teller with no psychic or magical powers, or in using cold reading to give advice... if you ''do the work'' you're claiming to do and being paid for. (The phony in question was an astrologer who made no attempt to cast Watanuki's horoscope and evidently had never studied the subject.)

See also SherlockScan, which involves many of the same skills but without the "psychic" aspect.

** An episode has the team takes down a PhonyPsychic who is using cold reading, among other techniques. After successfully using them on Parker]], the team convinces him that they are really psychic.

** An episode has the team takes down a PhonyPsychic who is using cold reading, among other techniques. [[BerserkButton After successfully using them on]] [[NoSocialSkills Parker]], [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome the team convinces him that they are really psychic.]]

* Steve Martin does this as the lead character in ''Film/LeapOfFaith''. In an EstablishingCharacterMoment, he's good enough at this to peg the insecurities of a cop who's ''in the process of arresting him'', which touches the cop so much that he not only lets him off the ticket, he makes a donation to Jonas's ministry.
* The 1947 noir ''Film/NightmareAlley'' stars Tyrone Power as an ambitious carny who vaults to fame and fortune as a cold reader after causing an accident that creates the job opening. It's like The Phony Psychic's Tell-Tale Heart.

* ''Series/TheMentalist'' has Patrick Jane, a skilled cold reader. He uses it to tease details about crimes out of those involved, supplementing his SherlockScan. Jane is a former PhonyPsychic who has since renounced the business. As such, he usually explain to his colleagues what he is doing. As such, it isn't very long into the series before they are all able to recognize it for what it is and even do it themselves to some degree. In one installment, Van Pelt actually tells off another character when he tries it on her.

* ''Series/TheMentalist'' has Patrick Jane, a skilled cold reader. He uses it to tease details about crimes out of those involved, supplementing his SherlockScan. Jane is a former FakePsychic who has since renounced the business. As such, he usually explain to his colleagues what he is doing. As such, it isn't very long into the series before they are all able to recognize it for what it is and even do it themselves to some degree. In one installment, Van Pelt actually tells off another character when he tries it on her.

%% * ''Series/TheMentalist'' has Patrick, a skilled cold reader. He uses it to tease details about crimes out of those involved, supplementing his SherlockScan.

* In ''[[Radio/SherlockHomesBBCRadio The Further Adventures of SherlockHolmes]]'' episode "The Madness of Colonel Warburton", Dr Watson attends a seance by the supposed psychics who have contacted Warburton's wife, and they claim to be in touch with Mary Watson. He later tells Holmes that all "Mary" said was platitudes, but that other attendees have said their loved ones said very specific things that only they could have known. Holmes points out that Watson was sceptical, and believers might hear more than the psychic is actually saying. [[spoiler: It turns out they ''are'' hot readings, though -- Warburton himself is being blackmailed into providing information on his friends.]]

* In ''Radio/TheFurtherAdventuresOfSherlockHolmes'' episode "The Madness of Colonel Warburton", Dr Watson attends a seance by the supposed psychics who have contacted Warburton's wife, and they claim to be in touch with Mary Watson. He later tells Holmes that all "Mary" said was platitudes, but that other attendees have said their loved ones said very specific things that only they could have known. Holmes points out that Watson was sceptical, and believers might hear more than the psychic is actually saying. [[spoiler: It turns out they ''are'' hot readings, though -- Warburton himself is being blackmailed into providing information on his friends.]]

* Professor Marvel on ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' uses this on Dorothy to convince her to go back to her farm. Once he figures out that she's running away, he has a "vision" in his crystal ball of a farmhouse where people are sad and worried about her. (He even makes an astute guess that the barn has "a weather vane with a running horse.") It works and she rushes back home without considering his revelation would require precisely zero psychic ability.

* The British TV series ''Series/{{Afterlife}}'' featured one of these, only there the perpetrator was a skeptic demonstrating how cold reading works. He is, of course, correct...except that he's now got an actual psychic in his circle.

For reference, the opposite of Cold Reading is "Hot Reading," where the supposed reader is secretly fed information about a subject he claims to nothing about. The most notorious is Peter Popoff, a televangelist who claimed a divine power of prophecy about strangers, which was actually supplied by his wife who read him information about them through a secret radio earpiece during his services. He was eventually exposed by Creator/JamesRandi who managed to tap into the radio frequency to listen in, not that it stopped the scammer from bouncing back eventually with a new variant of his scheme.

* The 1947 noir ''Nightmare Alley'' stars Tyrone Power as an ambitious carny who vaults to fame and fortune as a cold reader after causing an accident that creates the job opening. It's like The Phony Psychic's Tell-Tale Heart.

Though this sounds easy, it's worth mentioning that this requires a great deal of insight, improvisational ability and force of personality from the "psychic" to work in a convincing manner.

* Namechecked in the ''Series/YesPrimeMinister'' novelisation, where Hacker thinks there's a plot against him, and asks the Chief Whip what he's noticed out of the ordinary. The Chief Whip then has to work out what he's on about, while giving the impression that he knows already. The "editor" adds:

!!Examples

* Professor Marvel on ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' uses this on Dorothy to convince her to go back to her farm. Once he figures out that she's running away, he has a "vision" in his crystal ball of a farmhouse where people are sad and worried about her. (He even makes an astute guess that the barn has "a weather vane with a running horse.") It works and she rushes back home without considering his revelation would require precisely zero psychic ability.

* In ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'', Allison reveals details about Brian which look like she is a psychic. Then she reveals that she just went through his wallet.

%% * Mentioned repeatedly in Creator/ChristopherBrookmyre's ''Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks'', employed by Michael Loftus, and frequently relied on by [[spoiler:Moira Loftus]] and less frequently by [[spoiler:Gabriel Lafayette]]

%% * Lance uses this occasionally in the QuantumProphecy series. He's an accomplished con artist, though usually he uses his skills to help his teammates.

* ''Literature/TheGreatMerlini'': In one of the short stories, Merlini uses this technique on the murderer to figure out where an important piece of evidence is. It works.

* Played with in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Satan Pit", in which a creature [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane which may or may not be the actual Devil]] torments a group of humans on the asteroid where it's imprisoned by seemingly identifying their darkest secrets ("The captain, so scared of command.. the soldier, still haunted by the eyes of his wife..."). The Doctor, who is naturally a bit sceptical of this "the actual Devil" thing, then points out that for all its seeming omnipotence, the Beast is actually just playing on very common fears and bringing up incredibly vague statements that could refer to anything.

* Played with on ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun''. 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.

* ''Radio/BleakExpectations:'' Spoofed mercilessly when Pip Bin and Harry Biscuit go to see a séance. The medium, one Short Medium Larger, is identified as a huckster by Harry Biscuit before she begins, but he still falls for her act anyway because he's [[TheDitz Harry Biscuit]]. First, she claims she already knew his name ''after'' he'd given it to her, and then she uses a ludicrously overlong sweeping question on whether someone Harry has met ranging from family to casual strangers might have died. Harry is still impressed by this.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In one arc of ''Webcomic/PvP'' Brent tricked John Edward into [[http://www.pvponline.com/comic/2002/04/04/thu-apr-04 channeling Obi-wan Kenobi]].

* There's an episode of ''WesternAnimation/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 start thinking ''he's'' psychic (despite him explaining the entire "cold reading" procedure every time he does it), 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. [[spoiler:He wins against a [[VisualPun literal giant douche]]...]]