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I think that xenophanes is referring to Bertram Forer. Here's the text he used in his class, taken from the Wikipedia article on the Forer effect:

"You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some personality weaknesses you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable unused capacity that you have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an independent thinker; and do not accept others' statements without satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be rather unrealistic."



I am referring to Derren Brown, a magician/mentalist on UK TV. I didn't think it was an original trick, though. And I don't have the text, but yours is nice, and I wouldn't expect it to work too well on HN readers anyway. They might generally agree with the text, but I think a lot of them would not be fooled into believing the text contains detailed, non-generic personal information about them.


Brown's text was longer, but he credits it as Forer's idea originally (in his book 'Tricks of the Mind' p322)




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