This intriguing study of the psychological dynamics of scams shows how one can live with integrity in a sucker’s world.
How to find a fruitful path between gullibility and paranoia.
Wilkinson-Ryan, a professor of law and psychology, is well situated to investigate the social and personal implications of scams, cons, and tricks. The difference between being robbed and being conned is that with the latter, the victim has somehow contributed to their loss. Consequently, it generates feelings of humiliation and self-belittlement. Often, the psychological pain relates to the sense that the trust holding society together has been taken away, replaced by cynicism and suspicion. It is a potent construct, and the author explores it from a variety of perspectives. “The goal here,” she writes, “is not so much to spot the con but to renegotiate its meaning.” Along the way, she examines a range of psychological games and research experiments, including the well-known prisoner’s dilemma and the interesting tragedy of the commons, where there is an intersection of self-interest, trust of others, risk, and reward. A personal example that she recounts involves a student who claimed to have suffered a death in the family and therefore needed an extension on an important assignment. Was it a plea from someone who needed support or a lie designed to manipulate her compassion? Wilkinson-Ryan unpacks this to demonstrate how the optimal decision can be made by assigning metrics to assess the potential gain and loss of each path. This helps clarify the choices as well as the crucial impact on the decision-maker. “The point is, you can feel cheated, but you don’t have to,” she writes. “The question is not whether threats exist but which ones deserve your attention. The prospect of playing the fool doesn’t have to feel existential.” It’s a wise conclusion based on well-reasoned analysis.
This intriguing study of the psychological dynamics of scams shows how one can live with integrity in a sucker’s world.Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063214262
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harper Wave
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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