How to Be a Mentalist

Co-authored by Leah Morris

Last Updated: December 1, 2022 References Approved

A mentalist is an individual who appears to have supernatural powers in divining the truth about an individual as well as many facts about that person's life. A mentalist must be great at decoding, possess observational skills, and have a highly developed ability to observe minute detail. Many people, from criminal profiles to magicians, all use mentalist tactics and a working knowledge of psychology to interpret human behavior. Mentalists can not only get attention, but they can also entertain literally anybody on this planet. Want to get your Simon Baker on? Here's how.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Reading & Analyzing People

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Make snap, educated judgments. Part of being a mentalist is about trusting your judgment.^{[1]
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Research source} Unfortunately, most people have turned their observation skills off. General and non-overt assessment of an individual provides good background information that is normally missed. For example, are the person's hands soft or calloused? Is his musculature toned or not? Is the person dressed to stand out or to hide? Take yourself right now -- what might someone learn about you just from looking at you?
- There are dozens of general assessment information items that will help you to profile the individual. Think of Sherlock Holmes -- he didn't have ESP, he just noticed things.^{[2]
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  Research source} That's all. A slight tan line on the left ring finger. A pen mark on the left hand. He would now trust that this person is either divorced or separated and right-handed. Trust those snap judgments!
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Look for physical cues in others. A mentalist's work lies in stirring memories and causing the "tells" to appear, even if the person cannot bring to mind the information. “Tells” will help you to observe what the mind knows but the memory cannot call forth. Remember that although someone may say they do not remember something, the brain records everything. As such, the information is there, but just not accessible to that person at that time. "Tells" include:^{[3]
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- Dilation or constriction of the pupil of the eye (dilation is associated with positive emotion; constriction with negative).^{[4]
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- Where the person gazes
- Rate of respiration
- Heart rate
- Relative perspiration of the body
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3
Use yourself as your first guinea pig.^{[5]
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Research source} Knowing what tells to look for isn't helpful if you don't know what they mean. While each person is a bit different, tells are called as such because they're usually consistent. So get in front of a mirror and start studying your own face. Here's a few things to look for:
- When you think of a positive memory, your pupils should dilate. When you think of a negative experience, they should constrict. Imagine both of these scenarios and see what happens.
- Think of an answer to this question: What do you like about going to the beach? Once you've come up with your answer, note where you looked. If you said something like fire, you probably visualized it and looked up. If you said something like the sounds and the smells, you probably remained at eye level. If you said the sand in your hands, you may have looked down. Visual answers generally go up, aural stays level, and hands-on memories draw gaze downward.
- Make yourself nervous. How does it manifest in your body? What is your heart doing? Your breathing? What are you doing with your hands? Now run through other emotions too -- sadness, happiness, stress, etc.
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Detect lies. Much of detecting lies is seeing the tells we just covered. In fact, that's what a polygraph does -- it measures blood pressure, pulse, and perspiration.^{[6]
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Research source} The higher these numbers, the more likely the person is lying. But you can also do things a polygraph can't do -- like see when people aren't looking you in the eye, twiddling their thumbs, or being inconsistent in their verbal and non-verbal behavior.
- A good thing to master is detecting micro-expressions.^{[7]
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  Research source} These are little flashes of how the person actually feels before they consciously cover it up. They're often feelings of distress or negative feelings they don't want other people to see for one reason or another.
- Pay attention to their entire body -- how much they're gulping, if they're touching their nose or mouth, what they're doing with their hands, fingers, and feet, and how they're standing in relation to you. Are they angled toward the door? They probably subconsciously want to get away!
5
Ask leading questions. Persuading people is a huge part of being a mentalist. At the very least, you're persuading them you are a mentalist! If a person is given some evidence that one can “read their mind," they are easily confused between telepathy and observation/persuasion. A simple way to do this is to ask leading questions.
- John Edward and other TV personalities are great at this. They start with, "I'm seeing a 19. Does that mean anything to anyone?" They start out vague until someone latches on. Then, once someone does, he'll ask questions like, "You were very close to him, weren't you?" and the person answers, feeling like they're understood. He's just asking very vague questions and the person is filling in the gaps for him!
6
Practice casually sweeping the room with an observant gaze. Look for all detail in the environment. Observe all human interaction, from the one-on-one to how the room is grouped. Often just a ten-second look into a room can tell you how each person is feeling.
- If you see one or two people near the door, they may be socially anxious. See a person whose body language is clearly focused on someone else? They're interested in that person, probably sexually. And if everyone is aligned toward one person in the room, you've found your alpha. And that's just three examples.
- If you can, record something. Start with small segments, observe, record, then view again several times to find what information you missed the first time.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Convincing People You're a Mentalist

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Memorize a “baseline” of behavior for the people you're dealing with.^{[8]
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Research source} This means how a person normally acts in any given circumstance. Since people are different, you'll be a lot more effective in your readings if you have a baseline first. And you'll know how receptive they're feeling toward you!
- An easy example is think of naturally flirty people. When they're comfortable, they may be touching, laughing, and poking away at someone they find attractive. Other people, while comfortable, might consider that a violation of a person's bubble. Both people are feeling the same way, they just show it in very different ways.
2
Be confident. 99% of getting people to believe/agree with you is confidence (statistic yet to be verified). How do politicians get elected? What makes a salesman effective? Who gets the ladies? We may think it has something to do with smarts or with looks (and those definitely don't hurt), but what it really boils down to is confidence. When you're confident enough, it doesn't even occur to other people to question your judgment.^{[9]
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- If you're nervous about professing your mentalist ways, you gotta kick that nasty habit! What you're really selling here is yourself. People are looking to you to be convinced -- they're not looking for the most accurate or logical information. When you realize it's not what you say, it's how you say it, a lot of the pressure falls away.
3
Listen. The fact of the matter is that people tell us things way more often than we realize.^{[10]
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Research source} If we were better listeners, a whole new world would open up to us. Our memories would improve and we would make connections we didn't see before. That's what mentalists do!
- An important part of listening and being an effective mentalist is reading between the lines. Seeing what people really mean when they're talking. If your friend walked up to you and said, "Oh my gosh, I worked out soooooo hard today," they're actually saying, "Please give me a pat on the back. I need to be told I'm fit." It's this underlying text that will clue you in when people don't realize you're any the wiser.
4
Act natural. What it boils down to is that you're really putting on a show. So instead of pretending to be someone you're not and making this dramatic scene about it, just be yourself! The genuine you is a lot more convincing than anything else.
- If anything, be slightly amused. Think of those actors giving interviews that constantly have a slight smile on their faces and are prone to little bouts of subdued laughter. They're totally relaxed and they just seem, well, cool. Be that guy!
5
Plant ideas. And you thought Inception was just an awesome Leonardo DiCaprio movie. While you can't plant dreams yet, you can plant ideas. Let's say you want to get someone to think of a word and the word you want them to think of is "watch." You would insert that word into your conversation beforehand, glance at yours casually (albeit briefly), and then ask them to think of something like an accessory. Boom. Mind read.^{[11]
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- Start experimenting with this on small levels, like the example above. Grab a friend or two and see if you can come up with a few scenarios on your own where they don't know they're getting ideas planted in their brains. Once you come up with half a dozen or so words you can easily plant, you can impress anyone at a moment's notice.
6
Don't give away your secrets. If you've ever asked a magician to tell you how he does one of his tricks, if he's any good he never spills! He shouldn't even explain a trick that any other magician does (or the union will kick him out). You should be the same! If someone asks you how you do something, simply shrug your shoulders and equate it to your awesomeness.
- Don't accidentally give it away, either. "Ah, I see you looked up and to the left," gives away that you're monitoring their eyes, even if you don't tell them what it signifies. You want them to think there's something extra-sensory about you, something that other people don't have. So be mysterious. You'll only increase their intrigue.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Learning More & Practicing

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Read, read, and then read some more about mentalists and how they work. There are many books on interviewing people and interpreting even the slightest facial movements, body tells, and mind-manipulation. Annemann’s Practical Mental Effects and Corinda’s 13 Steps to Mentalism are two good places to start. As is T.A. Waters’ Mind, Myth and Magick. No one better to learn from than the pros!
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Study up on different, yet related, areas. To give yourself more cred -- and just because you may also find it interesting -- venture into other related realms. Think of reading up on dream interpretation, tarot cards, astrology, and telepathy and telekinesis, just to name a few. Might as well make yourself well-rounded!
- Consider learning new skills, too. Look into hypnosis,^{[12]
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  Research source}palm reading, and other people-reading skills. Then when you're being your mentalist self, you could always truthfully say, "I could hypnotize you, but I shouldn't have to do that."
3
Train your mind. It's a muscle, really. If you don't use it, you'll lose it.^{[13]
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Research source} So start playing chess, doing Sudoku, and solving riddles. Do crossword puzzles. Spend your free time reading and doing DIY projects. Paint (that's a good one for noticing details). Take an acting class (also good for detail and emotion). All of these are things that can help you increase your mental power.^{[14]
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- Use the Internet! Visit sites like Lumosity, Khan Academy, Coursera, and Memrise and make sure you train your mind regularly. Deductive reasoning and critical thinking are two skills that aren't necessarily used while being a mentalist, but they get the skills you do use going a lot faster! Sherlock may be able to notice that lack of a wedding ring, but if it takes him a day and a half to put it together, Watson's dead by then. So keep mentally agile and stay on top of your game.
4
Find a job where you can use your skills.^{[15]
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Research source} Whether you're looking to be a magician or a criminal profiler or a TV star, why not make a little moolah off of your mad observational skills and people-reading prowess? You'll hone your methods and learn even more tricks of the trade.
- If you haven't thought about it before, start! Get to reading How to Be a Magician, How to Be an FBI Profiler, How to Be a Detective, or even How to Get on TV. To learn from real professional mentalists, read about Master Mentalism. If Honey Boo Boo can do it, you certainly can!

Community Q&A

Question

Is eye contact important for mentalism?

Community Answer

Absolutely, because you want to seem confident and monitor the little things like the other person's pupils. Also remember to use your peripherals. You don't want people to know that you're looking at other things (like hands, feet, etc.) -- if you were checking somebody out, you wouldn't want them to notice.
Question

How can I start experimenting with planting an idea?

Community Answer

Casually mention the item you want a person to think about or bring it to their attention somehow, then later, ask them to think of something.
Question

Can a mentalist know another mentalist's mind?

Community Answer

Yes, unless the other one is trying to conceal his thoughts or cover his ideas to protect himself against the defeat!

Warnings

If you are using friends to help you develop your skills, ask them in advance if that is acceptable. During your first few years, mistakes can cost a lot in terms of human relationships when done without permission or the result is negative for the person involved.

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Be cautious of how you use any mentalist skills you have developed. Like most things, it simply is, and is neither good nor bad. How one uses it, however, does determine its societal value.

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