How can i develop my skills of observation and deduction?

[Illmatic]

Been researching a lot on cold reading and been watching a lot of Psych and The Mentalist and i realized the key to cold reading someone is have exceptional observational and deductive skills and these are the keys to cold reading.

So i want to know how can i improve my skills of these? From my earlier posts you would know my desire to learn cold reading. I wanna learn how to see stuff thats too subtle for the average person.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SherlockScan

A device used to introduce a detective character and his skills. The detective mentions some fact about the person he's just met, something that is not immediately obvious and he has no way of knowing ("Quitting cigs looks like it was good for you", "How's the wedding planning going?", "You've holiday'd in Italy recently). The other character looks skeptical or surprised, then the detective describes his reasoning from a set of minor clues (state and style of clothes, marks on skin, tan, etc.) and consequent assumptions.

Help?

 

[ThatsWhatHeSaid]

Been researching a lot on cold reading and been watching a lot of Psych and The Mentalist and i realized the key to cold reading someone is have exceptional observational and deductive skills and these are the keys to cold reading.

So i want to know how can i improve my skills of these? From my earlier posts you would know my desire to learn cold reading. I wanna learn how to see stuff thats too subtle for the average person.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SherlockScan

Help?

Cool idea. I would guess that you should start experimenting and taking guesses. You could ask people to verify if you're right or wrong instead of asserting your hypothesis as fact, meaning, instead of "how was your trip to Italy?" you say "do you mind me asking if you recently went to Italy?" The answer will help you learn and build confidence. Practice. Also, make it into a game with yourself or a friend.

 

[Illmatic]

Thank you. I really need to start doing stuff, made my mind this is what im gonna learn in the future.

 

[Thalassa]

Sounds like being a smart Si dom...I know an ISTJ who will look at people, IN DETAIL (that's the main thing...you look at every little detail about them) and see that their socks are a certain brand (which for example might indicate they play tennis) or that they're kind of disheveled or that their clothes are faded or that their glasses are a certain style or that their hair is dyed or that they didn't pay attention to where they sat down (in a chocolate stain) or that they seem extremely alert, they have muddy shoes, their shoes are brand new...etc. et al...

Basically you have to be hyper aware of external detail and associate it with things you know from your internal database and past experience.

It's an entire mindset. I don't think it's a mistake that many fictional detectives in novels seem to be ISTJs.

 

[Thalassa]

I mean you basically are going to have to learn to scan people from head to toe and notice details instead of overall image, and catalogue it in a factual rather than ethical or emotional way. Like not make any personal judgements, more like literally seeing that these details added together indicate this.

Also, I want to point out that you'll never be as accurate as a fictional detective...that's why it's fiction. Hercule Poirot is amazing precisely because he's not real. It's too good to be true.

But of course in real life you could develop these skills if you really care about details and what those details match up with in terms of the real world and concrete actions.

 

[Inverness]

I've done this on a few occasions...go to places specifically to people watch. Best places are busy coffee shops where you can sit for hours or airports. Concerning the latter, I LOVE airports for exactly this reason XD

 

[entropie]

You have been watching Psych and the Mentalist and want to learn Cold reading ? Hope you know that TV aint real life

 

[Illmatic]

Ohhh sorry i didn't post the video on this post.

This is real life.

[YOUTUBE="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btP_vy5cQq4"][/YOUTUBE]

 

[thisGuy]

Don't worry about deduction, stick to observation first.

I think deduction requires a LOT of background knowledge and experience.

Why is a 45 year old's ring finger empty?
-he is a widower
-he took it off to go for other women
-he is an actor
-he is a plumber and has to take it off for work
-lost it while swimming
-bird bit it off while he was feeding it. lucky that it was the ring and his finger


The above question has so many possibilities depending on the context. To single out the correct answer, you need some background knowledge like:
-What kind of society do you and he live in? Are widower's acceptable? Is cheating not looked down upon (you can clearly make out the spot where his ring used to be)?
-Actor? In this town? What kind of town are you in? Viable film industry?

My point is background knowledge and experience are usually required for a successful read. Experience usually plays a very big role in figuring out who someone is

 

[entropie]

Observe and deduct !

 

[funkadelik]

Cool idea. I would guess that you should start experimenting and taking guesses. You could ask people to verify if you're right or wrong instead of asserting your hypothesis as fact, meaning, instead of "how was your trip to Italy?" you say "do you mind me asking if you recently went to Italy?" The answer will help you learn and build confidence. Practice. Also, make it into a game with yourself or a friend.

This is pretty good advice. Experiment and make a lot of guesses at first (trials and error). See when you get it right and when you get it wrong and try to form a pattern out of that. Then see if you can use that pattern for successful reading in the future. Make it a game with some friends so that you're learning in a low-pressure environment.

But yeah! What [MENTION=4109]entropie[/MENTION] said: observe and deduce! Haha

Hey, "psychics" do it...can't all be TV.

 

[Illmatic]

Will i be able to really good at this? Shawn Spencer style...

 

[Thalassa]

Will i be able to really good at this? Shawn Spencer style...

Are you trolling or do you really live that much in a fantasy world?

I love love LOVE mystery novels, but I've pointed out that fictional detectives are fictional.

 

[Illmatic]

no i am not trolling.

sometimes reality gets too real for me and i need a place to escape and tv is it. It is just my therapy and i need it to escape into a place not near any of this reality shit.

Shawn Spencer is not real but his character isn't really that much of a fantasy is it?

 

[Thalassa]

no i am not trolling.

sometimes reality gets too real for me and i need a place to escape and tv is it. It is just my therapy and i need it to escape into a place not near any of this reality shit.

Shawn Spencer is not real but his character isn't really that much of a fantasy is it?

I like reading Agatha Christie novels, and Hercule Poirot is one of the original "amazing" detectives, and her stories always end with great sweeping acts of justice and the offending party being apprehended, and it's so wonderful, if only real life was so neatly tied up in a bow where "good" could triumph over "evil."

Everyone needs that, no matter their type or age, I think...we all need to exercise our fantasy and our wish-fulfillment.

On the other hand, detectives which are seemingly magical are a fictional creation. And what is ironic about your lament about reality is that in order to become more observant in the way that you would wish, is that you must pay more attention to real people and details about those people...did you read my earlier post that I made about the ISTJ I know who does similar things, notices little details and infers information from his past experience from it, from his filing cabinet in his mind?

I honestly think some people (and perhaps types, like ISTJs) may be naturally inclined toward this from a young age.

That doesn't mean you can't increase your observational skills. It's just that you have to be realistic about it if you really want to become a better 'detective.'

 

[Illmatic]

If your friend or the ISTJ you know looks at the people and analyses them at a deeper level than what is most obvious wouldn't be be an INTJ? iN are the ones that really makes the deeper connection.

 

[Thalassa]

If your friend or the ISTJ you know looks at the people and analyses them at a deeper level than what is most obvious wouldn't be be an INTJ? iN are the ones that really makes the deeper connection.

Ugh he is such an Si dom it's ridiculous. He can see crumbs from across the room. He's got laser eyes. I already described to you the concrete linear connections he makes, like for example he knows that a certain brand of socks means someone probably plays tennis, et al.

Maybe you should study personality theory.

The ISTJ sees what other people miss because he is MORE OBSERVANT and he cares more about these tiny details, and he wants to categorize people according to those details.

ISTJs have inferior Ne, too, which they utilize a little more as they get older, and he's more balanced I think than some Si dom/aux in this regard.

If you think Ns own the market on making connections between things, you have much to learn, grasshopper.

 

[Illmatic]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjPsnfysrp8


yo, check that out. Check the last 1:30 mins where he talks about a women coming in all smiling and then he asks her if she lost someone close to her recently and her husband just died last week and she burst into tears and he talks about how even though she was smiling they were still clues showing how she lost someone. And this is real life too, is it possible for me? Do you need natural talent? Can hard work surpass it?

 

[entropie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjPsnfysrp8


yo, check that out. Check the last 1:30 mins where he talks about a women coming in all smiling and then he asks her if she lost someone close to her recently and her husband just died last week and she burst into tears and he talks about how even though she was smiling they were still clues showing how she lost someone. And this is real life too, is it possible for me? Do you need natural talent? Can hard work surpass it?

Dude, I tell you what: if you just believe all your dreams can come true. And I say that against my whole scientifical nature: if you just believe, even PizzaHut can open a store in your basement !

 

[Thalassa]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjPsnfysrp8


yo, check that out. Check the last 1:30 mins where he talks about a women coming in all smiling and then he asks her if she lost someone close to her recently and her husband just died last week and she burst into tears and he talks about how even though she was smiling they were still clues showing how she lost someone. And this is real life too, is it possible for me? Do you need natural talent? Can hard work surpass it?

Yeah of course people who are naturally good at noticing details (read: noticing details, and adding them up to a concrete possiblity; not analyzing underlying context that other people miss) and/or reading people are gonna be better at it.

But apparently you should study Orson Wells.