The elderly constitute a prime target for scammers. At a time when scams are proliferating on the Internet and social networks, seniors often remain the target of all kinds of weak abuse. Fraudulent SMS and emails, false tickets on windshields, lying phone calls or even flyers that promise wonders, sometimes difficult to detect Trafalgar shots charlatans. A recent study rightly focused on the behaviors of our elders faced with scams in order to better understand their reactions.
The psychology of older people’s trust and decision-making
By choosing them as targets, scammers seek to abuse the vulnerability and trust of older people. According to the conclusions of a study, this vulnerability can be explained in particular by the fact that older people tend to stick to their first impressions about the reliability of people and have struggling to overcome them. To carry out their research, scientists from the University of Florida looked at the psychology of trust and decision-making from a panel of people. They had two groups of participants play a game of chance: a “young” group whose average age was in their early twenties, and an older group who oscillated between between 70 and 75 years old.
The principle of the game was simple; players had to choose cards, which could make them gain or lose points with each draw. The more points participants obtained, the more they won. Only some cards were lying. Some offered big wins but actually gave big losses, while the winners offered small but more predictable wins. All cards have been associated with facessome considered trustworthy and others untrustworthy.
Older people prioritize their first impressions
When playing the game, the majority of young adults and older people began by choosing cards represented by trustworthy faces. When they realized they were losing with these cards, young adults were quicker to notice it and change it in the hope of stemming their losses. The seniors had to wait most of the game before obtaining good results, because they seemed prioritize their first impressions.
“We sometimes make these decisions about reliability in a split second, but this is not a reliable way make good long-term decisions“, commented Marilyn Horta, lead author of the research and Doctor of Science, researcher at the University of Florida. And continued: “We must all, especially the elderly, pay attention to how a person behaves rather than our initial perceptions, to pay attention to whether she seems trustworthy or not“.”One of the advantages we have as we age is the accumulation of life experiences. But there can be situations where relying on previous experiences pushes us in the wrong direction and makes us make the wrong decision. We must remain vigilanteven if we think we know who we can trust“, added Natalie Ebner, author and professor of psychology at the University of Florida.
Sources:
- Age-group differences in trust-related decision-making and learning – Scientific Reports
- Older adults rely more on trust in decision making. It could open them up to scams – Eurekalert