When a fact is plausible, we still need to test it. When a story is plausible, we often assume it’s true.
When the psychologists Melanie Green and Timothy Brock decided to test the persuasive power of narrative, they found that the more a story transported us into its world, the more we were likely to believe it—even if some details didn’t quite mesh.
Azzopardi’s frauds relied on a quirk of human nature: when we become swept up in powerful narrative, our reason often falls by the wayside.
Cons, both long and short, thrive on in-the-moment arousal. They don’t give us time to think or reconsider.
Hence the extreme load of prepping for meetings, daily Bible reading, personal study, field service...keep them emotionally involved and give them no time to really think...
“They are so eager to get their hands on the proffered scam payoff that they fail to pay even rudimentary attention to the details of the proposed transaction and ignore scam cues that may be obvious to others not so overwhelmed by desire,” he wrote in a paper called “Consumer Vulnerability to Scams, Swindles, and Frauds.” The emotional outcome becomes the center of focus, and logic falls away.
Keep your eye on the Prize. See yourself in Paradise. Stay wanting for the reward, but don't apply logic...
Nice find Jerry!
Very interesting article.
(Of course I just assumed everything it said as true, since there was a powerful narrative in the article :-p ;-))