What Is Mentalism? Tips for Becoming a Mentalist

Mentalism is a performing art in which practitioners known as mentalists use their mental skills and intuitive abilities to interpret body language, behavior, and energy. Unlike traditional stage magic, it is a form of mental magic in which a practitioner claims to have abilities, such as telepathy, precognition, and clairvoyance.

While the skills of professional mentalists can be impressive, their supposed supernatural powers have been regularly debunked as trickery and misdirection. Multiple professions use mentalism, including magicians, psychics, tarot card readers, and performing mentalists.

Famous mentalists include Uri Geller (who used his mental phenomena to bend spoons), Theresa Caputo (also known as the Long Island Medium), illusionist Derren Brown, and mind reader Max Maven.

Here is a breakdown of the primary types of mentalists:

1. 1. Magicians: Magicians use mentalism techniques and showmanship when performing sleight-of-hand magic tricks and illusions to convince audience members that they're reading their minds. Audience members are generally aware that the magician is performing instead of genuinely using their mental skills to pull correct cards and make predictions. Magicians may plant individuals in the audience and choose them as random volunteers in certain cases. They then perform tricks such as mind-reading or card pulling and impress the rest of the audience by guessing the correct answers and pulling the correct playing cards. In actuality, the magicians planned the tricks before the performance.
2. 2. Psychics and tarot card readers: For those that believe in psychic ability, psychics and tarot card readers serve as mediums between the physical world and the afterlife. Skeptics view psychics and tarot card readers as skilled mentalists who study human behavior and use the power of suggestion to give seemingly accurate readings. In many cases, psychic entertainers use a practice referred to as cold reading. During a cold reading, a psychic will read a person’s body language as they make suggestions regarding their hopes and dreams. If the person reacts during these suggestions, psychics can pick up on these movements and craft their readings accordingly.
3. 3. Performing mentalists: Also known as modern mentalists, this profession involves performing mental feats in front of large audiences. Mentalists use their techniques and mental skills to perform tricks that range from mind-reading to accurately guessing numbers, names, and phrases that audience members write down on pieces of paper. Some people place modern mentalists and magicians in the same category; however, mentalists focus more on the psychology of audience members rather than performing impressive illusionary tricks, such as card tricks.

Mentalism dates as far back as the Middle Ages, when kings summoned seers to obtain advice and communicate with deceased leaders.

• Beginnings: The earliest recorded mentalism performance occurred in 1572, during which magician Girolamo Scotto entertained audiences with sleight-of-hand tricks.
• Entering the mainstream: In the 1800s, mentalism became more mainstream, with famed mentalist John Randall Brown being one of the first mentalists to perform a mind-reading act in front of an audience. While audience members believed Brown was naturally reading the minds of volunteer subjects, they later learned that he utilized a mentalism technique called muscle reading. This technique consisted of reading small, involuntary movements of a subject’s body in response to various stimuli.
• The Amazing Kreskin: In the 1970s, George Joseph Kresge, also known as The Amazing Kreskin, made a name for himself as a mentalist who utilized the power of suggestion. He appeared on television shows, and his most popular magic trick was an act in which he instructed audience members to hide an envelope containing a check in an undisclosed location. He would seclude himself backstage as the audience members hid the check, then return to the auditorium to locate it. While he was successful many times, he failed to find the check on twelve occasions.
• Contemporary: Current mentalists work as magicians, psychic entertainers, and modern mentalists. The mentalist phenomenon continues to grow, with performers showcasing their skills in Las Vegas and on television shows like America's Got Talent.

Mentalists perform tricks and illusions that include sleight of hand, cold reading, mind-reading, and the power of suggestion. The specifics of each trick are as follows:

1. 1. Sleight of hand: A sleight-of-hand trick is an illusion that utilizes fast, skillful hand movements to create a believable outcome. During a sleight-of-hand trick, audience members cannot see what is happening due to the quickness of the magician’s hand movements and their focus on another aspect of the trick.
2. 2. Cold reading/mind-reading: A cold reading gives the impression of mind-reading when the mentalist is actually throwing out suggestions and watching for subtle body language cues. When a mentalist suggests a name, place, or number that the subject recognizes, they'll move forward with additional suggestions to create a believable scenario.
3. 3. Power of suggestion: This common trick involves suggesting and forcing mental images into the subject’s subconscious. Mentalists utilize their psychological skills and knowledge to convince the subject that the idea was their own, which leads the subject to believe that the mentalist has mind-reading abilities or mind-control powers.

Mentalists have innate abilities to read other people’s body language and physical cues, giving the impression that they possess psychic or clairvoyant abilities. Here are a few tips to consider if you are interested in becoming a mentalist:

1. 1. Strengthen observation skills. A mentalist must have strong observational skills to sell their performance. To strengthen your skills of observation, try people-watching at busy areas, like the lake or beach in summer, the mall, the boardwalk, or an amusement park. Write down body language cues and other behaviorisms you notice.
2. 2. Source educational materials. While mentalists aren't required to earn college degrees, taking psychology courses or courses pertaining to human behavior can also be beneficial. Reading books on mentalism, watching online tutorials, and perfecting the power of suggestion are helpful and essential steps in becoming a successful mentalist.
3. 3. Practice reading. It's also important to practice reading people as much as possible. Performing readings on live subjects will help you hone your skills and mentalism techniques to determine if certain aspects of your readings and observational skills need improvement.

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