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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy We All Fall for Con Artists
http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/01/why-we-all-fall-for-con-artists.htmlCon artists surround us: Bernie Madoff. Nigerian princes. Psychics. But we never think well fall prey to their wiles. We can spot a gimmick a mile away, while those who become victims are foolish, or greedy, or both. Well, thats not quite the case. If the NSA can be hacked, so can the average or even exceptional human mind. Our capacity to trust, which makes us successful, also makes us vulnerable as does the natural bias to overrate our own bullshit detection.
In her new book The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It Every Time, published today by Viking, science writer Maria Konnikova explores the art and science of the con. Following each stage of a con, one chapter at a time from selecting a victim to reeling him in to shutting him up once hes been had Konnikova covers wide-ranging studies in social psychology and illustrates them with colorful stories about real-life con men and women in action. We hear about a Japanese composer who claimed to be deaf, a dealer of counterfeit art who made millions, and a pretend victim of sex trafficking.
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Why We All Fall for Con Artists (Original Post)
Cattledog
May 2017
OP
This proves that people will not admit that they've been conned, its embarrassing
uponit7771
May 2017
#3
underpants
(182,806 posts)1. Con men
Thanks I saw an article about this a few months ago but lost it.
LisaM
(27,811 posts)2. What is interesting to me about this...
is that people don't expose con artists because they feel guilty for being conned. I wish there was a way to move past that.
uponit7771
(90,339 posts)3. This proves that people will not admit that they've been conned, its embarrassing
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)4. While it can happen to anybody in the right circumstances....
remember that con artists rely on people looking to satisfy an emotion. It's important to be self-reflexive and separate emotional wants from the rational situation.