# Is there a difference between naïve and gullible?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-naive-and-gullible/954992>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 26, 2021, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-naive-and-gullible/954992 "2021-11-26T21:55:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-naive-and-gullible/954992/21 "2021-11-27T14:29:27Z")

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Naivety might or might not lead to gullibility. You’re not gullible until someone’s taking advantage of your lack of experience.

For instance, a naive child might still believe that babies get delivered by the stork. But that’s not a belief that’s likely to be taken advantage of. But if someone’s naive enough to believe that that guy on the streetcorner is selling genuine Rolexes, they’re probably gullible.

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**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-naive-and-gullible/954992/22 "2021-11-27T15:04:37Z")

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Try this (I’m SURE others can come up with better examples.)

Naive and gullible: Doesn’t know about something, and will believe an explanation without checking up on the source.

Naive but not gullible: Doesn’t know about something, but will check up before falling for someone else’s pitch. Will look for reliable sources.

Not naive but gullible: Knows about something, but still falls for scams about it. Overly influenced by others.

Naive and Gullible: A walking target for scams.

And…sometimes the same person can fit into several categories on particular subjects.

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**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-naive-and-gullible/954992/23 "2021-11-27T16:57:32Z")

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When a 10 year old responds to a spam, they are naive; when an 80 yo does, they are gullible.

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