PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAPS

1. PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAPS Avetik Afrikyan, Carima El Houri, Abbey Moore

2. Psychological Traps • A common set of psychological issues and motivations underlies all situations, a process of entrapment that shares many of the characteristics of animal traps and con games and has been studied in a variety laboratory of natural settings.

3. Psychological Traps • The properties of psychological traps: • What they have in common • What they lurk • Whom they tend to share • How they can be avoided

4. Psychological Entrapment • To understand psychological entrapment, we must first understand the simplest taps of all-physical traps for animals. • What properties make them work? • An effective trap must be able to lure/distract the quarry into behaving in ways that risk its self-preservation. • An effective animal trap permits traffic in one direction only. • An effective trap is often engineered so that the quarry’s very efforts to escape entrap it all the more. • An effective animal trap must be suited to the particular attributes of the quarry it is designed to capture.

5. Confidence Games • Confidence games are psychological traps for capturing people and are remarkably similar to self entrapment

6. ConfidenceGames • Confidence games are psychological trap for capturing people and are very similar to self entrapment. • These games rely on the con artists ability to lure the mark into the coarse of action that becomes the entrapment. • The lure is based on the marks cupidity, the possibility of getting something for nothing which happens on the expense of someone else.

7. ConfidenceGames • The effective con also depends on the marks willingness to cheat another person in order to get large and easy profits. • As a result the marks progressive pursuit of the lure tends to obscure the fact that the path taken is not easily reversible. • Once the mark figures this out he makes efforts to escape but it only leads to a deeper entrapment. • The more money the mark is persuaded to put up in this effort, the more carefully he will guard the investment

8. Types of Cons: There are two kinds of cons: • Short cons, in which the mark is fleeced for a few dollars on the spot • Big cons, in which the mark is directed to a “big store” a place where a con is played out. • The steps involved with big cons include: • Putting the mark up -- finding the right person • Playing the con – befriending the mark and gaining the mark confidence. • Telling the tale—giving the inside man an opportunity to show the mark how a large sum of money can be made dishonestly. • Giving the convincer—allowing the mark to make a substantial profit in a test run of swindle • Giving the breakdown—setting the mark up to invest a large sum of money for a final killing. • Putting the mark on the send—sending the mark home for that amount of money. • Blowing the mark off—getting the mark out of the way as quickly as possible.

9. Psychological Entrapment • One person may stimulously play the role of roper, inside man , and mark. However these traps only work when people are first interested in and distracted by the goal. • The first step of entrapment is the eager pursuit of the goal followed by attention to the costs that have been incurred along the way. • The more resources committed to attaining the goal the greater the traps bite. Each additional step toward a rewarding but unattained goal creates new and greater costs.

10. PsychologicalEntrapment • In certain entrapment situations, where several people are involved to compete, reward pursuit and cost justification are followed by the third stage in which people try to make sure that their competitors end up losing at least as much as they. • In the last major stage of entrapment, marks just finally let go, either because their resources are gone, because they are rescued by another person, or because they recognize the desperation of pursuit.

11. Dollar Auction • Is an example of entrapment, basically it is a game where you take a dollar bill from your pocket at a family dinner or at a party with friends and you announce that you will action it off to the highest bidder.

12. DollarAuction • People will be invited to call out bids in multiples of 5 cents until no further biding occurs at which point the highest bidder will pay the amount bid and win the dollar. • The only feature which is distinguishing about this auction is the rule that the second highest bidder will be asked to pay the amount bid even though he or she didn’t win the dollar.

13. DollarAuction: Analysis • The game is that it is likely to follow a general pattern. • One person bids a nickel another bids a dime, someone else jumps the bidding to a quarter it is at a fast pace until 60 cents is reached. • Soon the two remaining bidders have already bid $4.25 on bidders bids $5 the other refuses to go higher and the game ends. • The winner gets $4.25 from the loser and $ 4 for the winner

14. DollarAuction: Analysis • The question is why? What motivates people to bid initially and to persist in a self defeating course of action? • auction participants were asked to give reasons for their bidding their responses fell into one of two major motivational categories: • economic and • interpersonal

15. Economic Motives • Economic motives include a desire to win the dollar a desire to regain losses, and desire to avoid losing more money. • Economic motives appear to predominate in the early stages of a dollar auction. People begin bidding with the hope of winning the dollar bill easily and inexpensively

16. Interpersonal • Interpersonal motives include a desire to save face, a desire to prove one is the best player, and a desire to punish the other person. • Interpersonal motives come to the fore when the bid exceeds the objective value of the prize. Even though both players know they are sure to lose each may go out of his way to punish the other making sure that the other person loses even more.

17. How to Avoid Entrapment • Set limits on your involvement and commitment in advance • People who are not asked to indicate the limits of their participation become more entrapped than those who indicate a limit of when they will stop • For example, depending on the situation you are in, you may want to set a limit based on your previous experiences (eg. how long you will spend on hold for a call)

18. How to Avoid Entrapment • You may also like to set a limit for yourself based on: • Your available resources (how much time and money you have left to spend) • The importance of reaching your goal on this occasion (for instance, if you are put on hold, you may be able to phone again later) • The possibility of reaching your goal in some other way

19. How to Avoid Entrapment • Once you set a limit – stick to it • If you are the type of person who struggles with setting limits – let a friend help you (tell your friend the limit you would like to set, and have them rope you in when you reach this limit, so as not to surpass it)

20. How to Avoid Entrapment • Avoid looking to other people to see what you should do • You should refrain from looking to others to make a decision based upon what you should do – try to avoid sheepishly following others to deal with uncertainty • Research indicates that the presence and continued involvement of others in an entrapping situation increases one’s own entrapment

21. How to Avoid Entrapment • Beware of your need to impress others • Other people are not only a source of information about what to do in entrapping situations, but they are also an important source of praise or disapproval for our behavior • Research indicates that people become more entrapped when they believe their effectiveness is being judged or scrutinized by others • People are more often anxious about their appearance in the eyes of others and who feel that they have something to prove

22. How to Avoid Entrapment • Remind yourself of the costs involved • Research indicates that that people are less likely to become entrapped when they are made aware early on of the costs associated with continued participation • The availability of a chart that shows investment costs is sufficient to reduce entrapment • If you don’t start paying attention to the cost of your involvement until fairly late in the game, you may feel compelled to justify those costs by investing even more of your resources

23. How to Avoid Entrapment • Remain Vigilant • Entrapping situations tend to sneak up on us • People who understand and avoid one trap often manage to get caught in others with surprising frequency and ease • People who are aware of entrapment and its dangers are less likely to become entrapped

24. Entrapment: Conclusion • Despite cautionary advice, we still manage to get ourselves entrapped • When we do find ourselves in a situation of entrapment, sometimes the wisest course may be to quit – not to fight “Know when to give up, when to push rather than pull, and when to yield and wait for victory another day. For there is almost always another day, despite our proclivity for ignoring that fact”