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The Neurological Basis of Con Games
Hugh Pickens writes "If we humans have such big brains, how can we get conned? Neuroeconomist Paul J. Zak has an interesting post on Psychology Today in which he recounts how he was the victim of a classic con called 'The Pigeon Drop' when he was a teenager and explains how con men take advantage of the Human Oxytocin Mediated Attachment System, called THOMAS, a powerful brain circuit that releases the neurochemical oxytocin when we are trusted and induces a desire to reciprocate the trust we have been shown. 'The key to a con is not that you trust the con man, but that he shows he trusts you. Con men ply their trade by appearing fragile or needing help, by seeming vulnerable,' writes Zak. 'Because of THOMAS, the human brain makes us feel good when we help others — this is the basis for attachment to family and friends and cooperation with strangers.' Zak's laboratory studies have shown that two percent of the college students he tested are 'unconditional nonreciprocators' who have learned how to simulate trustworthiness and would make good con men. Watch a video of Skeptics Society founder Michael Shermer running the classic pigeon drop on an unsuspecting victim and see if you wouldn't be taken in by a professional con man yourself."
How we can we know this article is truthful? Can we really trust the author? He's a con man, after all.
If you know you would be taken in by a profession con man ... I'll trust you to let me know ;)
âoeTolerance applies only to persons, but never to truth. Intolerance applies only to truth, but never to persons.
I don't easily trust strangers who inexplicably trust me. I'm not easily conned. I guess I have a doubting THOMAS.
Proverbs 21:19
So about 6 million in America alone.
Say, isn't that about the population of Los Angeles and Manhattan (just the island, not the rest of NYC) combined? That would explain a lot.
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
You say tomato, I say potato. I call upon my license to fail I paid "Bob" 30 bucks for.
GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
That explains all the suspicious "please help me" posts on Craigslist.
One of these days I'm going to open CL and see this:
Dear Esteemed Sir;
I represent mYself, a poor Nigerian pe asant with FIVE MILLION CHILDREN to feed. I beg of you please do not send food or it will be STOLEN by corrupt officials. Instead please wire THE SUM OF 10 MILLIION US DOLLARS to [Western Union recipient information deleted for posting to Slashdot] so that I may buy food for my fAamily and pay off the police so they don't rape my daughters.
Thank You and God Bless.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
No, I meant condensation, he was drooling.
Trust in paper documents seems to be lagging way behind the ability to forge them. How hard is it to scan/photoshop/print a utility bill these days?
I would say very hard.
Let me present to you, the HP PSC 2355, combined printer/scanner/hairdrier.
It won't scan unless I have toner in the printer. In addition, some errors present themselves, requiring you to press the ok button. Once you do this, it presents the same info again, requiring you to press the ok button...
The HP PSC 2355: "you just can't reason with it, and it simply will not stop until you are dead"
She made the willows dance