Older and wiser: age differences in susceptibility to investment fraud: the protective role of emotional intelligence

Mueller, Emily A; Wood, Stacey; Hanoch, Yaniv; Huang, Yumi; Reed, Catherine L.

doi:10.1080/08946566.2020.1736704

Cited by 21 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…DeLiema and colleagues (2020) and Whitty (2019a, 2019b) also reported that being better educated was associated with higher rates of reporting being defrauded in investment-type scams. In contrast, studies by Wood et al (2018) and Mueller et al (2020) suggest that higher education is associated with a lower intention to respond to mass-marketing solicitations. Still other studies (Gavett et al, 2017; Jones et al, 2019; Lee & Geistfeld, 1999) failed to find any demographic factors that predicted susceptibility to phishing.…”

Section: Demographic Characteristics and Susceptibility To Scamsmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…Similarly, individuals who reported having made a risky purchase had almost double the probability of being a fraud victim, compared with those who reported having made no such purchases. However, Mueller et al (2020) failed to show a relation between financial risk tolerance and measures evaluating scam susceptibility and susceptibility to persuasion. The studies by Anderson (2019), Mueller et al (2020), and Modic et al (2018) are the only ones we know of that have included a risk-taking measure.…”

Section: Individual Differences and Susceptibility To Scamsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…However, Mueller et al (2020) failed to show a relation between financial risk tolerance and measures evaluating scam susceptibility and susceptibility to persuasion. The studies by Anderson (2019), Mueller et al (2020), and Modic et al (2018) are the only ones we know of that have included a risk-taking measure. Using a different approach, Mueller et al (2020) and Wood et al (2018) asked participants to indicate how beneficial and how risky they perceived scam solicitations to be.…”

Section: Individual Differences and Susceptibility To Scamsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…A better predictor of higher scam susceptibility was lower positive affect. Similarly, Mueller et al (2020) examined the role of emotional intelligence and demonstrated that participants who scored higher on the ability dimension of emotional intelligence exhibited reduced intention to respond to mass-marketing solicitations. Moreover, older adults scored higher on emotional intelligence and exhibited reduced intention to respond to scam solicitations.…”

Section: Individual Differences and Susceptibility To Scamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The studies by Anderson (2019), Mueller et al (2020), and Modic et al (2018) are the only ones we know of that have included a risk-taking measure. Using a different approach, Mueller et al (2020) and Wood et al (2018) asked participants to indicate how beneficial and how risky they perceived scam solicitations to be. Results of the two studies converged, revealing that participants' benefit and risk perceptions were the main predictors of intentions to respond to the scam solicitations.…”

Section: Individual Differences and Susceptibility To Scamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Scams Among Us: Who Falls Prey and Why

Hanoch

Wood

2021

Curr Dir Psychol Sci

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Not a week goes by without stories about scams appearing in popular media outlets. Given the ease with which scams can be circulated, they have become one of the most common crimes globally, inflicting high emotional, financial, and psychological tolls on millions of individuals. Despite their profound and pervasive impact, researchers know relatively little about why some individuals fall victim to scams but others remain immune to the techniques utilized by scammers to lure potential victims. For example, research thus far provides mixed results about the impact of demographic characteristics (e.g., age) as well as personality variables (e.g., risk taking) on individuals’ susceptibility to scams. Even less is known about how the nature or type of scam affects an individual’s susceptibility. Gaining a deeper understanding of these issues is the key to being able to develop preventive programs and reduce the prevalence of victimization. Here, we discuss some promising directions, existing gaps in current knowledge, and the need for decision scientists to address this important problem.

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Section: Demographic Characteristics and Susceptibility To Scamsmentioning

confidence: 80%

Section: Individual Differences and Susceptibility To Scamsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Individual Differences and Susceptibility To Scamsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Individual Differences and Susceptibility To Scamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Individual Differences and Susceptibility To Scamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The Scams Among Us: Who Falls Prey and Why

Hanoch

Wood

2021

Curr Dir Psychol Sci

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Compliance with mass marketing solicitation: The role of verbatim and gist processing

et al. 2021

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Introduction: Mass marketing scams threaten financial and personal well-being.Grounded in fuzzy-trace theory, we examined whether verbatim and gist-based risk processing predicts susceptibility to scams and whether such processing can be altered. Methods:Seven hundred and one participants read a solicitation letter online and indicated willingness to call an "activation number" to claim an alleged $500,000 sweepstakes prize. Participants focused on the solicitation's verbatim details (hypothesized to increase risk-taking) or its broad gist (hypothesized to decrease risk-taking).Results: As expected, measures of verbatim-based processing positively predicted contact intentions, whereas measures of gist-based processing negatively predicted contact intentions. Contrary to hypotheses, experimental conditions did not influence intentions (43% across conditions). Contact intentions were associated with perceptions of low risk, high benefit, and the offer's apparent genuineness, as well as selfreported decision regret, subjective vulnerability to scams, and prior experience falling for scams.Conclusions: Overall, message perceptions and prior susceptibility, rather than experimental manipulations, mattered in predicting scam susceptibility.

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