I had an interesting experience lately with a mentalist performer...they were using various subtle powers of suggestion to influence their outcomes to "predict"

I had an interesting experience lately with a mentalist performer...they were using various subtle powers of suggestion to influence their outcomes to "predict" and "mind-read". And yet when I mentioned the (well documented and studied) effects to some of the folk who attended with me, the immediate and emotional reaction was shock and disbelief, despite a couple of the members of the party having been directly affected. The mentalist performers had even partially explained their trick (without giving away the details). And yet, their level of cognitive dissonance was so high, that they could not accept a plausible explanation for something that they themselves could not otherwise explain. A good lesson being, if a young person is saying "everything is fine", they surely know nothing and everything is far from it, barring substantial proof to the contrary. They are likely to be severely in denial, and much like altering someone's political or religious beliefs, altering their perceptions is likely to be as difficult. Or another way to put it - everyone is in fact an imposter. We only don't notice, because everyone else is just as bad (for the most part).