Sociologist brook harrington says research into con artists can be very useful in understanding how not to start a conversation with someone who is vaccin hesitant. Harrington: Research from almost 70 years ago by a fellow named irving goffman, who was one of the the founding fathers of my field. And he wrote a short, but legendary article about conartists and the mystery of why people who've been defrauded by conartists don't usually go to the police or other authorities to report what's happened to them.