Why do we love scammer stories so much?
Written by By Ellen Scott
.......Professor of applied neuroscience Patricia Riddell tells Metro.co.uk: ‘When we hear stories, we often compare the behaviour of the person in the story to our own behaviour. If we think of scamming in terms of the intellectual or comedic content, then we are likely to want to be like the scammer.
‘It is only when we focus on the victim and how they might have been hurt that we are likely to feel compassion and therefore less positive about the scammer. So – the way the story is presented will help to influence how we react.’
Patricia explains that a great scammer story needs to be ‘unique, clever, and probably have a level of humour in it too’ – but the perspective is key as well.
This article appeared in the Metro online news site on 31st Jan 2019 with guest contributor Trish Riddell