Biases

So Leverage inspired me to read up on con-artists.  I finally picked up The Confidence Game, which had been on my very large to-read list for a while.  It's interesting stuff, and I wanted to quote something specific:

"... when it comes to ourselves—our traits, our lives, our decisions—our personal attachment overshadows our objective knowledge.
            We systematically misevaluate evidence based on our own characteristics, and if we're given evidence that something about us poses a threat, instead of thinking about how to change our own behavior, we call the evidence itself into question."

I've seen that a lot lately, particularly when it comes to politics (and probably done it, too.)  She goes on to say:

"To put this in conning terms, if I paint a picture of a perfect mark for you, and you recognize yourself in it, you are more likely to think I’m a poor researcher than yourself a good target. Nah, you’ll say. Those aren’t actually the things that get someone conned. I bet this girl didn’t do any research and is just constructing this out of thin air."