Maria Konnikova's book The Confidence Game: The Psychology of the Con and Why We Fall for It Every Time, and it explores the psychological principles underlying confidence schemes, or cons. Konnikova uses various case studies to illustrate how con artists exploit human vulnerabilities, such as our need for belonging, our desire to believe in stories, and our tendency to trust our gut feelings over evidence. The text also touches on the role of reputation, our predisposition to optimism, and the ways in which we convince ourselves that we are exceptional.