Editing Barnum effect (section)

==Exploiting the effect==

{{see also|Cold reading}}
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In 1977, [[Ray Hyman]] wrote about the way in which  [[huckster]]s exploit the Forer effect to take advantage of victims (or "[[Traveling carnival#Games|marks]]"). He provided a list of factors that help these tricksters to dupe their prey. For example, hucksters are more likely to be successful if they exude an air of confidence ("If you look and act as if you believe in what you are doing, you will be able to sell even a bad reading to most of your subjects"), if they "[m]ake creative use of the latest statistical abstracts, polls, and surveys" showing "what various subclasses of our society believe, do, want, worry about, and so on", if they employ "a gimmick, such as a crystal ball, tarot cards, or palm reading", if they are alert to the clues provided about their clients by such details as their "clothing, jewelry, mannerisms and speech", if they are not afraid of "hamming it up", and if they use [[flattery]].<ref name="Psychology Today"/>

[[Michael H. Birnbaum|Michael Birnbaum]], a professor of psychology at [[California State University, Fullerton]], has noted that the Forer effect is used by [[magician (paranormal)|magicians]] and [[psychic]]s when they give "[[cold reading]]s", as well as by certain TV personalities who claim psychoanalytical expertise and profess to be able to diagnose a guest's psychological problems in a few minutes. "Real psychologists are horrified by this practice", states Birnbaum, but they fail to criticize it vigorously enough in public, and so it continues to be treated with a respect it doesn't deserve.<ref name="California State University, Fullerton">{{cite web |title=The Barnum Effect |url=http://psych.fullerton.edu/mbirnbaum/psych101/barnum_demo.htm |publisher=California State University, Fullerton |access-date=February 28, 2017}}</ref> "It is regrettable that academic psychology has not paid more attention to the cold reading technique", Denis Dutton wrote in 1988, "in as much as the widespread practice of successful cold reading forms the basis for much of the belief in paranormal powers to be found in society today." While academic psychologists had focused in their studies on students, Dutton called for "analysis of the actual techniques and methods used by proficient cold readers".<ref name="Denis Dutton"/>

"The moral of the Barnum demonstration", Birnbaum has said, is that "self-validation is no validation. Do not be fooled by a psychic, quack psychotherapist, or a phony faith healer who uses this trick on you! Be skeptical and ask for proof. Keep your money in your wallet, your wallet in your pocket, and your hand on your wallet."<ref name="California State University, Fullerton"/>