Noun the theory that physical and psychological phenomena are ultimately explainable only in terms of a creative and interpretive mind. Mentalism is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, seem to demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities. The performances may appear to include hypnosis, telepathy, clairvoyance, divination, precognition, psychokinesis, mediumship, mind control, feats of memory, deduction, and quick mathematics. Mentalists perform a theatrical act that includes effects that may appear to employ psychic or supernatural forces, but are actually achieved by ordinary means of conjuring, natural human abilities (i.e., reading body language, refined intuition, subliminal communication, emotional intelligence), and an understanding deep understanding of the key principles of human psychology or other behavioral sciences.
The performances may appear to include telepathy, divination, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, precognition, mind control, mediumship, feats of memory, and quick mathematics. Hypnosis can also be used as a staging tool. Mentalists are sometimes referred to as psychic artists. Mentalism is commonly classified as a subcategory of magic and, when performed by a stage magician, it can also be referred to as mental magic.
