**TL;DR : Evidence to show psychics do exist is extremely vague and impossible to prove.** • Many self-acclaimed psychics have been proven as fraudsters. Cases such as [Lajos Pap] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lajos_Pap), a Hungarian spiritualist medium, was found to be a fraud by the International Insitute for Psychical Research when it was found that he was faking animal appearances at seances. • A lot of the readings that psychics perform are deliberately vague. It has been proven that psychics use two main methods for their readings. The first is [cold calling] (https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/hot-thought/201904/should-you-believe-in-psychics) whereby the psychic will ask big questions which are designed to elicit information in large audiences. The second is [hot calling] (https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/hot-thought/201904/should-you-believe-in-psychics), whereby psychics will collect information about their audiences beforehand, through searching personal information on the internet. • A lot of people succumb to psychic readings due to [motivated reasoning] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivated_reasoning). This is a phenomenon studied in cognitive science and social psychology and works using emotionally biased reasoning to 'produce justifications or make decisions that are most desired rather than those that actually reflect the evidence'.

A psychic, could be defined as someone who can know things using esp (extra sensory perception). They may know things by their ability to see into the future, or read minds. The psychic knows things using senses beyond the current understanding of science. I have seen documentaries which explained "cold reading" and other ways psychics can tell information, that apears to come from their ESP but does not. However two interesting experiements were done in television documentaries that seemed to suggest psychics might be real. (I'm afraid I don't have any references. ) The first was a test of psychic ability called dowsing. Someone who called himself "The Amazing Randi" set up a test where, something was hidden under a box. Then the dowser was asked to find which box, out of a array of boxes, the thing was hidden under. The dowser did not approach the large array of boxes surrounding him, instead, he maintained a distance and waved a rod at each box in turn. Amazingly he was able to identify the box where the thing was hidden. However, I am aware that one test cannot prove that dowsing works. Another experiment, in a interesting documentary, tried to eliminate cold reading. A psychic was asked to give a reading to a person. What the psychic did not know was that the person who was he reading was given special instructions. The person being read was suppose to reply "No" to whatever was asked by the psychic and did so. In the reading the psychic, despite being told "No" again and again, when asked a specific question of the person being read, kept coming back to the same question again and again, as if he knew that where as the person being read, was saying no, the answer was infact: "Yes" The answer to the question that the psychic kept returning too, was infact yes. However, it might have been the psychic was picking up on the body language of the person being read. Perhaps the body language said yes, while the person being read, was verbally saying "No" .

For me, I think I understand what ability psychics use, but there is no special powers. If a psychic is claiming they can predict the future, or any type of suggestion of past lives, that is fake. If they tell you some things about your emotions or mental state, it can be valid. Psychics are fake, but the thing they use which is intuitive reading is a bit more logical. Basically, intuition is what you can sense from a person. You know when the conversation is tense, when someone is angry, or when someone is depressed. Your brain also is honed to pick up dangers, so you can sometimes tell if someone is lying, offputting, or dangerous. Someone more honed can understand stronger what people feel. The problem is emotions and feelings are different for each person, and we can interpret incorrectly. We have different interpretations on what we feel. Me personally, I think I am okay, but my doctor says I'm severely depressed. She is absolutely correct. The problem is I've been like this for so long I got used to it. That's the reason why when being treated medically it is heavily advised not to be treated by your loved ones, because their judgement will be clouded. Best solution to understand yourself is to see a therapist or psychologist who understands your thinking process, a third party who sees you in a logical manner and someone who spent years learning and trying to understand people. In conclusion, psychics use some form of intuition, but it cannot predict anything.