Editing Cold reading (section)

== Subconscious cold reading ==
Former [[New Age]] practitioner Karla McLaren has spoken of the importance of reducing the appearance of unusual expertise that might create a power differential; posing observations as questions rather than facts. This attempt to be polite, she realized, actually invited the other person, as McLaren has said, to "lean into the reading" and give her more pertinent information.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Karla McLaren |date=May 2004 |title=Bridging the Chasm between Two Cultures |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/bridging_the_chasm_between_two_cultures |access-date=2012-08-29}}</ref>

After some people have performed hundreds of readings, their skills may improve to the point where they may start believing they can read minds. They may ask themselves if their success is because of psychology, intuition or a psychic ability.<ref>'' Paramiracles'' by Ted Lesley, Hermetic Press, 1994</ref> This point of thought is known by some skeptics of the paranormal as the "transcendental temptation".<ref>{{cite book |last=Kurtz |first=Paul|author-link=Paul Kurtz |title=The Transcendental Temptation: A Critique of Religion and the Paranormal |date=1986 |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=0-87975-645-4}}</ref> Magic historian and occult investigator [[Milbourne Christopher]] has warned that the transcendental choice may lead one unknowingly into a belief in the occult and a deterioration of reason.<ref>''ESP, Seers & Psychics: What the Occult Really is'' by Milbourne Christopher, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1970</ref>