Editing Cold reading (section)

==In media==
{{More citations needed|date=July 2009}}
* ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' (1939). [[Wizard of Oz (character)|Professor Marvel]] ([[Frank Morgan]]) utilizes both cold reading and [[hot reading]] techniques on [[Dorothy Gale|Dorothy]] ([[Judy Garland]]) in an effort to urge her to return home.
* ''[[Nightmare Alley (1947 film)|Nightmare Alley]]'' (1947). Depicted ex-[[carny]] and aspiring [[cult]] leader Stanton Carlisle ([[Tyrone Power]]) using cold reading and other [[mentalism|mentalist]] techniques to convince people he can communicate with the dead. The film was based on the [[William Lindsay Gresham]] novel of the [[Nightmare Alley (novel)|same name]].  The novel was again adapted into a [[Nightmare Alley (2021 film)|movie]] in 2021 and depicts many aspects of cold reading delineated in the above article.
* In ''[[Fletch Lives]]'' (1989), Irwin Fletcher uses a very heavy-handed version of cold reading to pass himself off as a faith healer during a televangelist praise meeting.
* ''[[Leap of Faith (film)|Leap of Faith]]'' (1992). Early in the film, [[revival meeting|revival tent]] [[evangelism|evangelist]] and phony [[faith healing|faith healer]] Jonas Nightengale ([[Steve Martin]]) uses cold reading on a police officer who has pulled over his tour bus, to dissuade him from writing a ticket.
* "[[The Biggest Douche in the Universe]]" (''[[South Park]]'' episode, 2002). [[Stan Marsh]], one of the main characters in the animated comedy series, has an encounter with self-proclaimed psychic [[John Edward]] after attending a taping of Edward's TV show ''Crossing Over''. Stan then uses cold reading on some passers-by in an attempt to convince his friend [[Kyle Broflovski]] that Edward is a fake, only to be mistaken for a child psychic and given his own competing TV show. This leads to a "psychic showdown" between Stan and Edward. Eventually, aliens arrive and declare Edward "The Biggest Douche in the Universe" for exploiting people's grief to gain TV ratings.
* ''[[High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman]]'' (2005). BBC TV show in which character comedian [[Marc Wootton]] portrays a spoof psychic who parodies the typical cold reading techniques used on an unsuspecting audience.
* ''[[Psych (TV series)|Psych]]'' (2006). Shawn Spencer, the main character in the show, uses cold reading to convince detectives that he has psychic abilities while actually using logic, reason, keen observation skills, and an [[eidetic memory]] to solve cases.
* ''[[The Mentalist]]'' (2008). The main character is someone who formerly used cold readings to pretend to be psychic, and now uses cold reading to assist him in solving criminal cases, especially when interviewing witnesses and possible suspects. His interactions with past clients are sometimes the subjects of episodes and he often tutors his colleagues and other individuals in the tools of his trade to teach them that "there's no such thing as psychics."<ref>{{cite web |title=The Mentalist |url=http://www.tv.com/shows/the-mentalist/ |website=tv.com |access-date=9 January 2020 |archive-date=13 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113045519/http://www.tv.com/shows/the-mentalist/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* ''[[Leverage (American TV series)|Leverage]]'' (2010). In Series 2 Episode 13 "The Future Job", Dalton Rand ([[Luke Perry]]) is a con artist who uses both hot reading (information gathering) and cold reading to convince an audience that he can communicate with the dead.  The cold reading methods he uses are exposed by the team.<ref name="Walker20100209">{{cite news | last = Walker | first = Chad | date = February 9, 2010 | title = TV Review: Leverage 2.13 – "The Future Job" | work = fandomania | url = http://fandomania.com/tv-review-leverage-213-the-future-job/ | access-date = August 5, 2010 }}</ref>
* ''[[Now You See Me (film)|Now You See Me]]'' (2013).  One of the Four Horsemen, Merritt McKinley ([[Woody Harrelson]]), is a mentalist who uses cold reading (along with hypnotism) to assist in extortion and his illusion act.
* Comedian [[John Oliver]] addressed the topic during an episode of his talk show ''[[Last Week Tonight with John Oliver|Last Week Tonight]]'' on February 24, 2019. In the segment, Oliver criticized the media for enabling psychics who prey on grieving families, and explained the techniques of cold reading and [[hot reading]]. On cold reading, he said: "It's like asking a room full of [[Mantis|praying mantises]]: Has anybody here lost a loved one because you ate them after having sex?. You know that all those little green hands are going up. (...) The broader the generality, the higher the chance it resonates with someone – basically, it's a magic trick, and yet prominent, smart people are willing to cosign on psychics' abilities."<ref>{{cite news|last=Horton|first=Adrian|title=John Oliver on psychics: 'A vast underworld of unscrupulous vultures'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/feb/25/john-oliver-last-week-tonight-recap-psychics|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|location=London|date=February 25, 2019|access-date=February 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190225190230/https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/feb/25/john-oliver-last-week-tonight-recap-psychics|archive-date=February 25, 2019}}</ref>