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

by Maria Konnikova

Our reputation is the most important thing we have. It determines not only how we’re seen by others, but also how they will act toward us. Will they trust us? Will they want to do business with us? Do they consider us responsible, reliable, likable, effective? In medieval Europe, fama meant two things: what people said about others’ behaviors, and reputation. The fact that both ideas were represented in a single word signals a fundamental truth: our reputation, in effect, is what others say it is. Financial ruin is often the least part of the confidence game; in fact, many con artists aren’t even after money. The deepest scars come to our reputations—to how we’re seen by others and how that perception will, in turn, affect our future. That is precisely what the confidence artist is counting on, even after, despite our best efforts at self-delusion, it becomes apparent that we’ve been taken for a ride: that our reputational motivation will be strong enough to keep us quiet. In the touch, we’ve finally been taken for all we’ve had: the grifter has gotten all that he’s after, and is ready to disappear from our lives. But how to do that without getting caught, so that he can easily go on to play the same game he’s just played with some new mark? In the blow-off, the confidence artist has one main goal: now that the touch has been taken, get the mark out of the way as quickly as possible. The last thing you want is for someone to complain and thus draw attention to the whole en...