The Confidence Game summary

Have you come across someone who can enter a room and instantly charm every person? Such charismatic people can often become great leaders or expert deceivers.

This kind of charisma is essential to a con artist’s ability to appear friendly and trustworthy.

You’ve probably seen enthusiastic young people on the sidewalk asking you to support a cause like Greenpeace or Amnesty International. Many people will look the other way and quickly walk by because they know that it will be hard not to give a donation if they stop.

Con artists are aware of this as well. They know that once someone has agreed to a small favor, they’re more likely agree to a larger request later on.

You’ve probably seen them on TV or in the street: men acting cool and confident while wearing what is clearly a crooked toupee or hairpiece. At the time you probably asked yourself, who do they think they’re fooling?

In truth, most people’s self-perception isn’t very accurate and con artists are keen to take advantage of this.

Do you ever see people at a casino and wonder why they continue to place more and more losing bets? It’s often due to an early bet that happened to pay off, which gives the gambler a false illusion of success and encourages him to continue even in the face of mounting losses.

Con artists are experts at creating an illusion of success and taking advantage of this false optimism.

Have you ever been unfortunate enough to find yourself in conversation with a racist or a nutty conspiracy theorist? If you have, you probably know how difficult it can be to convince someone that their beliefs are wrong, even in the face of scientific facts.

This is another human trait con artists can use. They know that even when people have an experience that contradicts their beliefs, they’ll still tend to hold on to those beliefs and ignore the experience.

Imagine you're a police officer who just closed an important case that brought you a big promotion. Suddenly, a young clerk discovers that you’ve overlooked a major detail in the case. The clerk offers an interesting solution: she will hide the evidence, as long as you promote her.

Would you accept the offer? Since our reputation is one of the most highly valued parts of our identity, it’s likely that many people would.