Tess Wilkinson-Ryan

Really what I'm trying to do here is to make the case for being a sucker sometimes, because I think that in a number of contexts in our lives, the fear of being played for a fool is counterproductive to our own actual goals.

Thank you so much.

I think I agree with you that everyone thinks this is common sense, which is why I'm kind of having fun pushing back a little bit on this common sense and saying, wait a minute, aren't there a whole bunch of places in our lives when actually we'd be better off like playing the fool a little bit and sort of making the case for being a sucker, even though I think you're right.

We are

pretty programmed to have sort of our antennae always on the lookout for the potential scam.

You know, that's a really interesting question.

There are studies in other areas of psychology about sort of a natural ability to detect cheating.

But I also think that it's clearly learned.

And the reason I think that is because of all of the different sayings we have that reinforce this message.

So if you think about how many fables are about scams, like

the Trojan horse, or the boy who cried wolf, and all the sayings from your parents like, don't take any wooden nickels, fool me once, shame on me, that kind of thing, which does suggest that there is this built up cultural apparatus that wants the members of a society to stay on guard.

Most of the time, trying not to put yourself in the position of being suckered, taken advantage of, betrayed.

Most of the time, that's a really sensible, reasonable thing to do, right?

I do not want to invest my money with a person who's going to scam me out of it.

That seems totally right.

But let me describe a study to you where it seems like people are taking this fear of being betrayed and applying it in a case where it doesn't make a lot of sense.

The study is an investment study.

The task is you are going to be given $100 to invest in this company.

There's a 95% chance of either breaking even or of making a real profit.

there's a 5% chance that you lose your entire investment.