Mystical Angels

can some one please debunk fortune tellers for me? i need ideas for a paper, please !!?

this is for the one who dont believe in fortune teller, has a friend ever argued with you and tel you that fortune tellers are true and did u argue back and give evidence that ur friend is wrong and that fortune teller and indeed not true.. well i need some one to write me something long about fortune teller and how they are just lies, and all fake !! please i need ideas for a paper im wiriting and i need to desperately prove some one wrong so bad.. thank you !! ill be waiting for your response.. thanks again bye

Public Comments

1. Don't throw your money away on fortune tellers! If you are seeking some light entertainment, then it might be ok, but nobody has any psychic power to tell your future. In social psychology the belief that someone unknown to you can tell your past (or future) is referred to as the 'Barnum Effect' after the famous circus owner who coined the term "There's a sucker born every minute". What is interesting is the individual's acceptance of what the conman or conwoman tells them. They offer descriptions in broad general terms that can fit almost any case if the recipient of the drivel is primed to accept it, and unfortunately many vulnerable people are only too keen to believe whatever is thrown at them. For example, they may make statements like: "you are loyal, trustworthy, kind, cheerful" etc. A great experiment into the Barnum Effect was performed by a gentleman called Forer. He gave his students a so-called 'personality test' whereby he asked them about their hobbies, hopes, ambitions etc. After a week he gave them what appeared to be a very personalised interpretation, and they were asked to rate the result on a scale of 0 - 5. Evidently, they thought the test was quite accurate because the average rating was 4.3. There was only one thing wrong - unknown to the students, Forer had given each one an identical result. Proof that fortune tellers / psychics and other assorted pedlars of rubbish provide nothing, absolutely zero, for their clients. Something they are very good at, however, is reading body language and utterings from their customers, which unfortunately gives them an air of mystique - but they have no special powers.
2. Carefully glue two five dollar bills back to back. Offer the "Fortune teller" ten dollars and lay the bill on the table. You will be guided by what the persons says the moment they see the Bills--as one five.
3. It would be good to first understand that not all fortune tellers are real, but many are real, and second that what they offer is a guide not anything more than that.
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi