The Psychology of Being Scammed:
e paper describes a dozen different con scenarios -- entertaining in itself -- and then lists and explains six general psychological principles that con artists use: The distraction principle. While you are distracted by what retains your interest, hustlers can do anything to you and you won't notice. The social compliance principle. Society trains people not to question authority. Hustlers exploit this "suspension of suspiciousness" to make you do what they want. The herd principle. Even suspicious marks will let…
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When the CIA tried its hand at magic
lton and Wallace have rounded up some of the extreme forms of covert activity. The Soviets deployed a cyanide-bullet gun concealed in a cigarette pack; the Americans countered with a “nondiscernable bioinoculator” gun shooting tiny poison darts. A pop-up dummy took the place of an agent diving out of a moving car. A person was transported in a St. Bernard costume in a crate to a fake veterinary office. A radio was hidden in an artificial scrotum, to be worn…
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The Wisdom of the Smart Crowd:
ant to know what former President Bill Clinton, Gen. David Petraeus, three Nobel Prize-winners, best-selling authors such as Thomas Friedman and Fareed Zakaria, and thought leaders from China and Canada to India and Indonesia think about the world's most pressing problems? So did we, which is why Foreign Policy surveyed 2009's Top 100 Global Thinkers, asking them to rate everything from U.S. President Barack Obama's first year in office to which country is the world's most dangerous. Nearly two-thirds participated,…
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Will monkeys really type Shakespeare if given enough time?
e study: A single computer was placed in a monkey enclosure at Paignton Zoo to monitor the literary output of six primates. Who and when: Students at University of Plymouth, 2003, paid for from a £2,000 Arts Council grant The aim: To test the "infinite monkey theory", which states that if a monkey hits keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time, it will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works…
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Overconfidence vs. Market Efficiency in the National Football League Draft
question of increasing interest to researchers in a variety of fields is whether the incentives and experience present in many “real world” settings mitigate judgment and decision-making biases. To investigate this question, we analyze the decision making of National Football League teams during their annual player draft. This is a domain in which incentives are exceedingly high and the opportunities for learning rich. It is also a domain in which multiple psychological factors suggest teams may overvalue the “right…
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How dangerous is sword-swallowing?
e study: More than 100 sword swallowers from 16 countries were asked about injuries they had suffered practising their skill Who and when: Sword swallower Dan Meyer and radiologist Brian Witcombe, published in the British Medical Journal in 2006 The aim: To explore the side-effects of sword swallowing What was learnt: They received data from 46 sword swallowers. Common ailments included sore throats, especially when learning the trade. They sometimes damage the oesophagus, although usually not seriously, but major bleeding…
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Who Needs a Big Marketing Budget?
in over 320,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email here. Related posts: New Neuroscience Reveals 4 Rituals That Will Make You Happy New Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More Successful How To Get People To Like You: 7 Ways From An FBI Behavior Expert
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Tricks in the retail realm – Marketers take note and buyers beware (Video):
a bigthink.com Join over 320,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email here. Related posts: New Neuroscience Reveals 4 Rituals That Will Make You Happy New Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More Successful How To Get People To Like You: 7 Ways From An FBI Behavior Expert
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