I didn't watch the video, for several reasons, but my guess is that her techniques aren't particularly different from those of other accomplished mentalists. If there was a complete and accurate description of the most impressive techniques in the public domain, the mentalists probably wouldn't sell so many tickets, and the fun would be spoiled.
Joined: 12 Jan 2025 Gender: Non-binary Posts: 522 Location: Australia
Today, 5:29 am
I anticipate that mentalists use several lines of questioning to increase the chance of solving an unknown. However, I have tried to use the same line of questions and I couldn't never possibly guess the names or answers.
I do encourage watching Suhani Shah, my conclusion is she either set this up prior with the host or she really has psychic abilities.
Joined: 27 Oct 2014 Age: 40 Gender: Non-binary Posts: 30,709 Location: Right over your left shoulder
Today, 5:36 am
Short answer: She doesn't.
_________________ The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. They have a name for Nazis that were only Nazis because of economic anxiety or similar issues. They're called Nazis.
There are many tricks “mentalists” employ to do what they do. The woman in the video said that a mentalist is a magician who uses people instead of props. Like other forms of magic tricks, it comes down to trickery, illusion, being able to pick up on small details, leading people to give themselves away or to give some desired response, acquiring information in advance, lies and fraud, etc.
With the passcode on the phone, she could’ve been helped along with the smudges on the screen and, maybe, where the guy’s eyes appeared to be looking if she didn’t have him secretly filmed unlocking his phone before the show. (I won a game once due to picking up on where someone - my brother - was looking. The game centered on guessing which card containing a written statement a person would choose among various possibilities. I correctly surmised that my bro would look more at the card he liked the most.)
There are lots of methods out there people use, so it’s hard to say which technique(s) she employed on every trick.
There’s plenty of debunking information to be found although it often goes ignored because believing in magic is more fun. At any rate, YouTube still has a fair amount of debunking videos which may be useful. I’ve watched some of Derren Brown’s. This short one is quite entertaining:
Last edited by TwilightPrincess on 28 Feb 2025, 1:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Joined: 15 Sep 2008 Age: 72 Gender: Male Posts: 12,303
Today, 1:30 pm
^ I've enjoyed a lot of Derren Brown's shows. There was one in which he converted an atheist to Christianity - and then had to tell her it had all been a trick. On another show he somehow got a rather racist redneck to take a bullet for an illegal immigrant. Of course it wasn't a real bullet but the guy thought it was. Of course it might not all have been as impressive as it looked, but until I find out how he did it all, it remains very entertaining stuff. Sometimes he fully explains his tricks. He showed a film where he tossed a coin about 20 times and id came up heads every time. The trick was that he'd just filmed thousands of failed attempts until by chance he got one to work.
What I like about Derren Brown is that he admits he has no psychic powers and that it's all clever fakery. I also like that he exposes fake spirit mediums etc. Apparently he doesn't believe any of these faith healers and "psychic" people are innocent of deliberate fraud, because they all use techniques that he's familiar with, which strongly suggests they know exactly what they're up to.
But I think one Victorian guy was innocent. He'd ask his horse to count out the answer to a numerical question by tapping its foreleg on the ground. It usually got the answer right. It turned out that as the horse approached the correct number of taps, the owner would become slightly tense, and the horse would pick up on that and stop counting. So, horses can't count, but they're remarkably good at picking up on certain human emotions. Well, that's the story. I wasn't there at the time to check for myself.
I don't believe anybody can actually read minds to the degree that mentalists seem able to.
^ I watched a lot of those videos from Derren Brown a few years ago, especially when I was going through the process of deconstructing from a cult. Getting to see how and why humans are so easily manipulated and duped into believing nonsense was extremely useful. So often when people don’t know or understand how something was achieved, some form of the god of the gaps is invoked, especially when it nicely aligns with what they want to believe.
Yesterday, 1:54 am
