Psychology vs Psychic

Psychology vs Psychic.

Why mentalists can’t agree on what they’re pretending to be

Welcome to this bizarre tea party of mentalism.

Where half the guests wear lab coats and quote psychology textbooks.

While the other half wear crystals, speak in cryptic metaphors 

and ancient hieroglyphs.

I was recently challenged in an online forum about claiming to have supernatural powers and subsequently lectured on the ethics involving mentalists who claim supernatural powers.

I must add that this person wasn’t rude toward me

but they did inspire me to dig a little deeper into this subject.

So today I’m going to be all serious and ask:

Why is it okay for some mentalists to fake being psychology experts

but it’s not okay to fake being psychic?

One group acts like a professor, they’ll twist their moustache and adjust their spectacles while saying clever sounding things like:

I use suggestion, NLP and read body language.

The other group acts all mysterious, raise an eyebrow and replies:

I can hear the elevator music playing in your subconscious mind.

It’s usually the so called psychology experts who scoff at the mystics.

Today, we’ll explore both sides of the argument.

Not to settle the debate,

just to give it a little stir and see what comes out at the end.

The Case for Faking Psychology

Let’s start with the Freud fans. The performers who claim it’s all about having a keen eye and a wealth of knowledge on behavioural science.

These are the ‘I’m not psychic, just highly trained’ mentalists.

They prefer the idea of mentalism as a psychological art form.

They use phrases like priming, suggestibility and micro expressions.

Think: TED Talks with spooky lighting!

Why this route is beloved:

It sounds smart and people respect brains.

Saying you use psychology gives your mentalism

the appearance of intellectual credibility.

It also avoids controversy and potentially awkward moments, like when someone asks if you can make contact with their recently departed goldfish.

It’s a great selling point: Corporate gigs, university events and sceptical audiences all love the idea of a mind reader who’s grounded in science.

But here’s the irony: Many of these performers aren’t really well versed in the art of psychology. They’re just using magic tricks dressed up in sciencey language. Equivocation becomes cognitive reframing and dual reality becomes deep subconscious inference.

They’re still pretending… They just choose to pretend to be a scientist instead of a Seer!

The Case for Performing as Psychic

Now let’s pop into the other tent, the one with incense and velvet curtains. Here lives the performers who don’t shy away from the mystical.

They speak of energies, impressions, feelings

and thoughts formed through intuition.

Some of these performers may never say they’re psychic

but they also don’t say they’re not. They leave it up to the audience to decide, it’s ambiguous, mysterious and for many spectators this is totally enchanting.

Why this works:

It’s powerful. Telling someone you sensed their fear of the open sea is more moving than saying I just guessed that based on statistics.

It honours tradition, mentalism has deep roots in the mysterious,

from spiritualism to stage seances.

This side of performance respects the origins of the art.

It creates belief and when that belief is handled responsibly

it can be magical and even transformative.

Psychic performers argue that mentalism is theatre and in theatre

we lie beautifully. No one ever tried to sue Hamlet

for pretending to be Danish royalty.

So why should a performer be shamed for portraying a psychic?

They’re not taking money for readings. They’re creating moments of wonder and true mystery demands a touch of the supernatural.

The Judgey Middle:

This is where things start to get a bit spicy.

Some psychological performers don’t just prefer their style, they actively criticise others for using supernatural framing.

They say things like:

It’s unethical to let someone think you’re psychic.

You’re crossing the line into deception.

You’re no better than a fake medium.

But here’s the inconvenient truth:

They’re also pretending. They just wear a different costume.

Telling someone you read their body language when you actually peeked at a billet is still a lie, it’s just a socially acceptable one.

It’s nothing more than intellectual cosplay.

My question is:

Is it truly about ethics? Or is it about status?

Claiming psychological skills sounds smart and marketable.

Psychic claims are taboo and a little embarrassing to some.

The divide starts to look less like ethics and more like ego.

The pot is calling the cauldron spooky!

The Real Secret:

The Audience Decides and that is the truth which both sides sometimes forget. What the audience believes is out of your control.

You can frame your act as psychological

and people will still walk away thinking you’re psychic.

You can read tarot cards, speak in riddles and others will insist it’s all NLP.

Audiences see what they want to see.

Mentalism is a mirror and your character simply shapes the reflection.

So maybe the real ethical question isn’t about what you claim

maybe it’s about how you handle belief.

Do you give people hope? Do you exploit emotion?

Do you handle questions about the supernatural with care?

Do you leave people better, more amazed or more curious than they were?

These questions cut deeper than your costume or language.

My take from the foggy middle ground

Let me break character for a moment…

Who am I kidding? I am the character!

Here’s my stance: Both styles are valid, both have power, both require responsibility and both can be deceptive in service of wonder.

I quite like the psychological edge. It’s fun to throw around terms like semantic priming while secretly holding a centre tear.

But I adore the psychic vibe,

sometimes ambiguity is more honest than explanation.

Mentalism isn’t a courtroom, it’s a campfire.

You’re not here to prove something, you’re here to tell stories, bend reality, and invite people into the impossible.

As long as you’re not conning people out of cash or claiming you can heal bunions, then what’s the big deal?

Choose your mythos, claim psychology, claim mystery

or claim moonbeams if you want!

Just own it with style and care.

Bonus: The Third Path 

The Hybrid Mentalist

What if you don’t have to choose?

Some mentalists blend both worlds. They’ll quote Friedrich Nietzsche

one minute and channel Mystic Meg the next.

These are the hybrid mentalists who live between logic and lunacy.

They tell audiences: Some of this is psychology, some of it is intuition,

some of it… well let’s just say it’s unexplained.

 Audiences love it.

They love mystery that feels possible and ambiguity they can wrestle with on the way home. They love performers who dance on the edge of reason.

This hybrid approach doesn’t dodge responsibility, it invites reflection and creates room for belief without ever demanding it.

Maybe the most honest answer a mentalist can give is:

I’ll let you decide!

The ethical fog: where is the real line?

Let’s address the question hovering above this whole debate:

Is it more ethical to pretend to be a psychologist or a psychic?

Neither claim is real in a performance context, they both rely on theatrics. Both can be misleading and both are ultimately performance personas.

But some argue that invoking psychology flirts with legitimacy but invoking the supernatural is a step too far.

The difference? It’s about cultural context.

Psychology is taught in schools, it’s measurable, it has research and professors in white coats who say big words.

Psychic ability?

Oh, that gets lumped in with UFO sightings and haunted dolls.

So even though both can be fictionalized onstage,

one gets a pass and the other gets mocked.

And yet the moment a psychological performer uses a peek and calls it intuition, we enter murky water.

When a billet switch is justified as deep empathy are we still in ethical territory? Or just hiding behind academic vocabulary?

The truth is: Ethics don’t live in the scripts. It lives in the intention.

Are you trying to heal? Harm? Deceive? Inspire?

That’s where the real line is drawn.

A Metaphor Involving Sandwiches

Because everybody likes sandwiches right?

Imagine mentalism styles as sandwiches.

The psychological performer makes a sandwich and says:

This is made with whole grain data and organic reasoning.

But we know that inside, there’s still some processed cheese AKA trickery.

The psychic performer serves you a glowing, levitating sandwich and says:

I can’t explain how this tastes so magical.

There’s no mention of ingredients, just an experience.

The judgey performer walks in, sees the glowing sandwich, and shouts:

That’s not real food!

While hiding their cheese slice behind a lettuce leaf.

Here’s the point:

Both sandwiches can feed the audience and both can be delicious.

But one claims health benefits it doesn’t really offer and that’s worth thinking about.

Fragmented Thoughts:

In the end, it doesn’t matter if you wear the robes of a psychic or the spectacles of a psychologist, you’re still a conjurer of perception.

Let’s stop judging others for choosing a different flavour of fiction.

Let’s stop pretending one lie is nobler than the other.

Let’s just embrace the beautiful craziness of mentalism because we’re all telling grand lies in service of deeper truth.

So go forth mind readers: Be spooky, smart and strange.

Just don’t be smug.

Stay Weird

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