{"id":61177,"date":"2018-07-03T09:10:33","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T16:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=61177"},"modified":"2018-07-03T09:10:33","modified_gmt":"2018-07-03T16:10:33","slug":"look-confidence-game-part-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/look-confidence-game-part-2-2\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look at The Confidence Game \u2013 Part 2 of 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Two weeks ago, I explained why I found Maria Konnikova\u2019s book, <\/span>The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time<\/span><\/i>, worthy of study. Today I\u2019m going to pick and choose among some of the parts of the book. <\/span><\/p>\n

Konnikova has a Ph.D. in psychology and is a writer for <\/span>The New Yorker<\/span><\/i> and other publications. While this is not an academic treatise with numerous footnotes, there are a LOT of references to publications by academicians who have studied con artists and related subjects. I say this to note that this does not read like a novel. It\u2019s a pleasant read. It\u2019s a charming read. But it\u2019s not easy going. I felt the struggle was worth it. If you don\u2019t want to take the time to read it, a good hour-long interview may be found at <\/span>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ARUntx62Lqk<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Most people know who the typical mark is: \u201cYou can\u2019t cheat an honest man\u201d or \u201cTo be conned you need to be greedy.\u201d According to Konnikova, these descriptions are totally false. The biggest predictor to who can be conned is: \u201cWere you conned before?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

That makes me a good candidate to be conned again — a statistic that doesn\u2019t set well with me at all. Many people, it seems, can readily pick out the foolishness that makes other people good marks, but if the con is chosen perfectly can be victimized themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are lists of people who have been conned that circulate, for high prices, among the con artists. (Creating such a list out of whole cloth sounds like it would make for a perfect con — but I digress.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Apparently emotional, vulnerable people are among those easily conned — those who have lost a loved one or a job or are in some sort of transition in their lives. The actual cons described in the book largely came before the era of social media — but now it\u2019s a lot easier.<\/span><\/p>\n

People regularly post on Facebook and elsewhere everything that would make them a good mark. Many con artists befriend their marks on Facebook under a different name and learn a lot of interesting things that make their job easier and more successful.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been off Facebook for some time now over the reported risks. This book makes me even more wary of going back. It\u2019s hard for me to know if that makes we wisely sensible or just an old fuddy-duddy. I suspect there would be votes on both sides of this.<\/span><\/p>\n

The book goes through the anatomy of a con. How you identify a mark — or a grifter. The set up. The play. The disappearance. Now I know how to pull off a con, but I\u2019m not sure I\u2019m any more prepared to do it. A con artist is indeed an \u201cartist.\u201d Someone who is polished at what he does.<\/span><\/p>\n

One thing that really hit me is that many victims really think they are special. Yes, they know that others have been conned — but this time it\u2019s the real deal. Yes, they know that most psychics are fake — but believe they can tell the difference and this remarkable person is special.<\/span><\/p>\n

Apparently, most of us think we are better looking than average. Smarter than average. Drive better than average. You know — special. It\u2019s statistically impossible, of course, for most of us to be smarter than average. I certainly feel I\u2019m extraordinary in a number of ways. Don\u2019t you feel that way about yourself?<\/span><\/p>\n

If you feel that way about yourself, then it\u2019s not too far a reach for you to believe that you deserve good things. And if something is too good to be true for most people, well, if I\u2019m special, then it might not be too good for me. Someone with that mindset is ripe to be conned.<\/span><\/p>\n

Several interviewers of Konnikova can\u2019t resist asking her if Donald Trump is a con artist? Whether you like that kind of question probably depends on whether you\u2019re a Trump hater or a Trump supporter. I never heard Konnikova give a definite \u201cyes or no\u201d answer to the question, but she clearly agrees that much of what he says and does is very similar to what con artists say and do.<\/span><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Two weeks ago, I explained why I found Maria Konnikova\u2019s book, The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time, worthy of study. Today I\u2019m going to pick and choose among some of the parts of the book. Konnikova has a Ph.D. in psychology and is a writer for The New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[428],"yoast_head":"\nA Look at The Confidence Game \u2013 Part 2 of 2 - Gambling With An Edge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/look-confidence-game-part-2-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Look at The Confidence Game \u2013 Part 2 of 2 - Gambling With An Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0Two weeks ago, I explained why I found Maria Konnikova\u2019s book, The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . 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