Veil of Fire

Just saw a commercial for Animal Planet's new show, "The Pet Psychic". Apparently this woman reads your pet's mind and tells you why it's having whatever problem you brought it in over, and what it thinks about you, and all sorts of other things. I didn't actually watch the show, just a boatload of commercials for it.

Anyone seen it?

I just can't help thinking: "How hard is it, really, to cold-read a cat?"

Someone7

It's impossible to, since cats don't give any sort of feedback.

Dr Rick

How would one go about attempting to verify this ladies "readings?" Is an animal going to argue back at her and say, "no, that's not what I'm thinking at all"?

What next? Psychics that read pine trees and fungus, perhaps?

seebs

Sure they do! If the cat is biting you, you're doing something wrong. If the cat is purring, it has chosen to tolerate whatever you're doing wrong. If the cat is staring at you, you're doing something wrong. If the cat is ignoring you, it's sulking because you're doing something wrong.

It's very easy to cold-read cats.

Undercurrent

But they're also significantly less likely to get up and say "fuck no you fraud" to one of their unsupported assertions.

m.

Jeremy Pallant

I saw that same ad too. Frankly, I wasn't surprised. If you can have the likes of John Edwards on the Sci Fi Channel talking to the dead friends/family of the audience, it's not a huge leap to having a psychic talking to dead animals on the Animal Channel.

This crap should be illegal, though.