The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It...Every Time

Konnikov, aside from having the PERFECT name to tackle this topic, is a talented writer. She is conversational without being too present (in that creepy, uncle-at-your-bedroom-window kind of way) and knowledgeable about the history of cons and cognitive science behind how they work and why we fall for them. She tackles the fascinating subject with the perfect blend of engaging writing, rigorous research and guilty appreciation for con men (and they are almost all men, apparently) and their devious trade.She uses plenty of historic examples of memorable and lucrative cons, as well as some painfully recent examples (Madoff, for example), strategically stretching them out across chapters to make this a borderline page-turner, as I always wanted to find out how badly the marks would be taken and if the cons ever got their comeuppance. I also appreciated the thought that went into the overall structure (the sure sign of a writer who understand the psychology of storytelling), organizing the chapters around the components of a big con — the put-up, the rope, the send, etc. — which is a great way to seed the lingo and reinforce just how complicated a con is and just how much they rely on instinctive (or learned) understanding of deep psychological concepts.Cons can only work because we humans are, mostly, wired to trust. “We are so bad at spotting deception because it’s better for us to more trusting. Trust, and not adeptness at spotting deception is the most beneficial path.” For such social, collaborative creatures, trust is vitally important to work together. And cons take advantage of that.Cons, it seems, are wired a little differently than most, often scoring high on the “dark triad” of personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy. That leaves them self-interested and joyously amoral. Luckily, evolution has seen to it that those who possess those and other maladaptive traits ever only exist in relatively small numbers, or else risk dragging the whole species down into oblivion. “Calculated nonchalance [regarding moral imperatives] is only an adaptive strategy when it’s a minority one.” Otherwise, we’d all be so busy fleecing each other and exacting revenge, the human race might just flicker out.So, along with exploitable trust, add in greed, an overwhelming desire to feel special and a few other psychological traits like “egocentric anchoring” (“We assume that other know what we know, believe what we believe, and like what we like.”) and “the mere exposure effect” (familiarity breeds affection), and the stage is set for being suckered.The part that resonated the most with me is how victims of cons often fall for a scam because of a shared predilection of all humans — our love of stories. Our brains are wired to receive information in story form, and cons are really just an elaborate, and expensive, form of story-telling that puts the victim in the center of a new and interesting universe where it makes perfect sense that they can get money for nothing or that they are of the blood line of an ancient religious order and must liquidate their resources to go on the run. It’s exciting! People want to feel special, and stories about them are the best ways to make that happen, lowering defenses and loosening purse strings in the process.And we especially love a good story that resonates with our core beliefs. “Why form accurate judgments when the inaccurate one make our life far more pleasant and easy?” Easy because we don’t have to challenge our long held assumptions (such as the fact that we really are special). The comforting story soothes away the cognitive dissonance because, “when a fact is plausible, we still need to test it. When a story is plausible, we often assume it’s true.”And cons often invoke “information priming” which exploits “the ease that comes from familiarity. Mention something in passing, and when you elaborate on it later – especially if it’s a few days later – it seems that much more convincing. It’s a phenomenon known as the illusion of truth: we are more likely to think something is true if it feels familiar.”And that goes double if that something has emotional appeal. “Our emotional reactions are often our first. They are made naturally and instinctively, before we perform any sort of evidence-based evaluation.” In other words, “Con men … are likewise expert at rapidly involving greed, pity and other emotions that can eclipse deliberation and produce an override of normal behavioral restraints.”Equal parts journalism and psychology, the end result is a riveting look at what it takes to convince people to, against all their better instincts, act against their own self-interest.

I got into this book for a fairly sad reason. A dear friend recently passed away. He had been suffering from heart and pulmonary issues as well as diabetes. Retired, well educated professional living alone. The attorney handling estate issues told me that my friend had been scammed. From the local bank account representing his emergency reserves he had sent $25k to a Western Union address, another $25k in gift cards. The autopsy showed he died from an overdose of his medications. (Note the police declined to follow-up other than checking the Western Union address and determining no information was available regarding who picked up the funds.)Why, I wondered would someone this intelligent fall for this type of scam? This question led me to Maria's book which she answers quite well. Seems no one, no matter how educated, intelligent or careful is immune to the well executed con. She delves into the structure of the con, the stages involved, why they work or don't and why those scammed often continue to believe the con was legitimate.Also includes some of the more interesting historical scams such as Ponzi, Madoff, etc. The book was well written enough that I have moved off to her examination of the world of professional poker. If cons are an area of interest for you, hard to beat this one.

the author's being a psychologist with first rate credentials as psychologist certainly makes the case studies interesting and her insight all the more intriguing. What I didn't particularly like(or rather I should what really didn't resonate with)was the really exhaustive degree in which she explores the topic often needlessly repeating or rehashing material that was covered before. She could quite conceivably condense about half of it and I and perhaps other readers wouldn't feel so bogged down by what comes across as a microscopic exploration characteristic of a lengthy ph d thesis on the topic of confidence games. In this sense, the in depth treatise would genuinely qualify as a lengthy magazine article in for example, the L.A. Times Sunday edition supplemental magazine, same thing with the N.Y. Times.

The Confidence Game: The Psychology of the Con and Why We Fall for It Every Time by Maria KonnikovaI would especially recommend this book to people who think they are too smart to be taken by a confidence trickster. If this book tells us anything, it is that regardless of social status or level of education, a person can willingly become a victim of a confidence game. Human beings seem to have inbuilt psychological vulnerabilities. Con artists are people with a highly developed capacity to spot these vulnerabilities and exploit then, usually for personal gain. Konnikova moves easily from case studies to psychological theory, building a picture of the dynamics in the relationship between the ‘con-er’ and the conned. She ranges across the entire spectrum of fraudulent behaviour. In so many instances, it is remarkable to find how some victims are so willing to ignore the warning signs that they are victims of a scam. Even more remarkable are some cases where victims refuse to believe the perpetrators are guilty. An important lesson to draw from this book is just how vulnerable people are to being taken for a ride. The con artist exists in many fields, and not just to defraud people of money or their possession. Those who recruit terrorists for suicide missions for example -exploiting religious and personal vulnerabilities- are players in the confidence game.29/08/2016

Sorry, but this book wasn't for me. It was way too heavy on quoted studies, too light on examples, and full of promises of interesting cases to come, which somehow never came - at least not before I threw in the towel and stopped reading. I consumed a couple hundred pages and became increasingly convinced the author was running a scam on me. She gets three stars only because she obviously put quite a bit of effort into the book. Too many promises, too much snooze.

This is a tricky book to review.On one hand, the information it contains is interesting and useful - a dissection of the psychology behind the con, the hows and whys of both the grifter and the mark, backed by references to scientific research.On the other, disjointed. Each chapter starts with a story that just about reaches its. Jumping to analysis. Flitting back and forth. Perhaps closing the story academically, rather than as a tale.All told, the information is there, but its presentation works against it. At times, it feels more like a stream of conscience than a well-structured analysis, even though ti contains all the material for the latter. It would probably benefit from a structural re-edit.I would give it 3.5 if possible. 3 is too low, but it doesn't deserve 4.

Very interesting read about the confidence game. Arguments are engaging and made really well. I started reading thinking that I would never fall for some of these tricks and finished with the stark realisation that I actually have many times. You dont fall prey to a con because you are stupid, you fall prey to a con because you are human.The anecdotes and insights into the mind, suggestion and influence found in this book are valuable. Plus the brief look into religion and cults will want you to understand these particular human phenomena further!

After reading Matthew Walker's "Why We Sleep", I'd hoped that this would be an equally insightful book into the science behind what makes cons successful and their marks victims. Sadly, there is precious little to be learned from this book, which quickly becomes tedious. The science is very thin and it is based on third party references of already published material. After reading it, I felt that I had rather wasted my time unfortunately.

Well written and interesting book. Working in dysfunctional workplace you can see how the lack of ethical leadership sets the tone and hence the culture that allows the corporate con artist/bulls***ter to prosper. Bad people in bad places result in bad behaviours. Another lens through which to understand people in organisations, especially if you read Andrew Spicer''s articles on corporate bulls*** - highly recommended! Once the scales are lifted from your eyes you'll never see the corporate world in the same way

This was a really interesting and well-written book. It's thought provoking and supports its reasoning with scientific sources, but the writing is not overly dense or ladden with jargon. Highly recommend!