Well I'm just claiming to be psychic because I can read, add up and remember things - all psychic processes in the normal definition (psychic = "mental" psychical being what I am not!) but in response to your excellent question Shrunk -
http://jerome23.wordpress.com/2011/09/1 ... r-was-she/

You can skip down to the section labelled "My Tentative Hypothesis" if you want to read it.

jerome wrote:To be fair, the psychics were probably shocked too. They may well unconsciously read people (cold reading) and the conversation may well provide a lot of info.

I don't think this is sufficient explanation though.

Whether it is unconciously or not, or straight lying or 'artistic licence' isn't the question, it's the manner in which it is presented.

So Uri Geller, fraudulent, he uses techniques he knows counter his claims.

A psychic who claims to be talking to spirits also uses techniques (cold reading) that counter their claims of access to the spirit world.