There is also the element of confirmation bias. We want to believe, for example, that we're the kind of people who would help others out when they're really in need. So if somebody says something flattering to you or says that you have a family fortune locked up in Nigeria, that might be something that you want to believe. But I don't know that anybody wants to believe that their grandson is in jail and needs bail. There are other biases like self-serving bias or positivity bias. Then there's one more, which is that human beings are like causation machines,. And so some of the most famous con men were Victor Luzstig; he heard how expensive it was