It's part hocus pocus, part Jedi mind trick, part media lore.

WSJ: English Premier League: Sir Alex Ferguson's Mind Games

We've always believed that the perceived quality boost that comes from using high-end cables is really just a trick of the mind (read: justifying the ridiculous cost of premium cables to yourself) -- if you've dropped enough cash, you can probably hear anything you want.

ENGADGET: Audiophiles can't tell the difference between Monster Cable and coat hangers

When Halloween rolls around each year, what comes to mind is 7-year-old trick-or-treater Tony Bagley.

FORBES: Halloween Murder of Trick-or-Treater Still Unsolved 17 Years Later

Whether his comments were mind games or not, they certainly seemed to do the trick in Phillip Island as Pedrosa was absolutely useless in the wet and finished 15th.

BBC: SPORT | Motorsport | Motorbikes | Melandri's back on track

The trick, said Yanna Muru, is to clear and calm your mind to build a bridge into the spirit world.

BBC: Sydney��s Aboriginal side

The question in my mind is whether a few trillion dollars spent purchasing government debt would do the trick.

FORBES: The Fed Pushes On A String As It Ponders How To Create Inflation