Ronald Reagan once famously used the phrase “trust but verify” when trying to craft a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union. The root of Reagan’s difficulty was that while he wanted to dismantle a portion of America’s nuclear arsenal, he also had to place his faith in the Soviet Union to do the same.
In his new book “Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know” author Malcolm Gladwell attempts to pull back the curtain on why human beings place their trust in individuals who will eventually deceive them.
“This is one of the central ideas of the book,” Gladwell said during an interview with Boston Public Radio. “Why are human beings so bad at knowing whether someone is telling the truth?”
Gladwell’s book examines several cases to form his thesis, including the scandal surrounding former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky. In the book, Gladwell puts forward the notion that people like former Penn State President Graham Spanier were unfairly treated for placing their trust in Sandusky.
