Why are people so gullible?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I used to have this job working for an invention company. We “invented” products for clients who had ideas. Like, have you ever thought of an idea and said, “Wow, I should do something with that. I could make a fortune.” Well, this company capitalized on that.

See, a person would submit their idea and then three days later I would call them up on the telephone. Here is where it gets weird. We didn’t just talk them into it with personal charm. Charm played a factor no doubt, but there was a formula. See, the conversation on my end was mostly scripted. And there were certain key phrases that we would use to have an emotional effect on the client. The company called it “fear of loss.”

For example, after talking to the patient and going through my spiel, I would say something along the lines of. “You know, this is a great idea. But if you don’t do something with it, someone else probably will.” or “it’s only a matter of time before something like this comes out. How are you gonna feel if you see your idea is out there knowing someone else beat you to the punch.”

Sounds stupid, right? I am not kidding when I say that this was used in every conversation and it worked. The company makes an absurd amount of money off individuals hopes and dreams.

But thats not all. If you do even the slightest research on the company, you will find that they have a horrible track record. They’ve had lawsuits, thousands of complaints, and hardly ever make money for the client. Their friends will tell them not to do it and they will. If they don’t have the money, they’ll do something crazy like sell their car or put it all on a credit card. In fact, their piss-poor statistics are on their own website. The writing is on the wall that it is a huge scam.

I think that in most cases, it was a middle-aged or older person who was either just bored or was tired of working. That’s what I feel it boiled down too. Still, this doesn’t explain the absurd amount of cognitive dissonance that takes place?

Furthermore, there’s examples of extreme gullibility all around us. Nigerian scams. Lottery tickets. Republicans. Religion. etc… The list goes on and on.

Why are we so stupid?

2

Allegory of The Cave…

3

I’m reading a book right now called Split-Second Persuasion written by Kevin Dutton, which is more or less an attempt to answer your question. It picks apart the different ways of skipping the rational, decision making parts of the brain, which is pretty frighteningly easy. I’m about halfway through. So far it’s talked about instinct based shortcuts (sex, babies) and various types of framing and reciprocity tricks. The author also puts some effort into explaining why these shortcuts exist and why the brain would melt down if they didn’t. You might enjoy it.

4

Those “You got an idea” commercials are like a stupid magnet anyway. I’m pretty sure 99% of the people who sees those commercials see it for what it is; a scam.

It’s pretty much along the same lines of “Take this pill and get a bigger dick.” commercials. You think to yourself: 'How the hell can anybody NOT know this is a scam?" Apparently, there’s that 1% that don’t. And that 1% is all they need to turn a tidy profit.

5

It is not clear to me what the company actually did. Was it charging large fees to make prototypes (of products that had no hope of working, or no hope of selling)? Charging large fees to prepare patent applications? Or what?

6

Wire me US$1000 and I will tell you why.

7

Sure, being scammed by a Nigerian is pretty much the definition of being gullible. I think those cases often are cases where people just want it to be true so badly that they are emotionally unable to face the obvious evidence it isn’t.
For those who fall for the patent scam, well, it’s easier to just call a phone number than it is to investigate what would be involved in doing things the right way, so no surprise that some people try to cut corners. Laziness is a huge part of human nature.

However, I disagree that gullibility is as pervasive as you seem to think, if you were at all serious with those other examples (this being the Dope, I could see it going either way). I would argue that while people CAN be involved in those other activities for gullible reasons, it is not universal by any means for those who engage in such activities.

There are plenty of people who buy a lottery ticket knowing that they probably won’t win and are not in any way being scammed by it. For those people, the fun is in having the fantasy that they might win and it is worth spending a few bucks on the lotto for that fantasy. Telling those people “Duh, you’re not going to win” is sort of like saying to a guy spending money on an exotic dancer “Duh, of course she’s not really going to have sex with you”. Some people who engage in these activities may be naive enough to think they really will be a millionaire or get to bang the stripper, but many others see the game for what it is and just don’t care. Now, I don’t play the lotto myself, but I find it tiresome when people assume that everyone who does play the lotto is an idiot. Someone who spends $2 on a lotto ticket when they can easily afford it is certainly not being gullible in the same way as someone who spends their whole paycheck on a bunch of lotto tickets.

Considering the financial disasters that Democrats have managed to cultivate in states like Illinois and California, I can’t say that I am terribly impressed with the judgement of Democrats as being any better than Republicans. I think our whole political process has become screwed up now that most people just think in memes and sound bites rather than understanding the issues.
My experience has been that Democrats can be very gullible when it comes to thinking that all poor people, all criminals, etc. are victims of random, cruel fate instead of free agents who have willingly made poor choices. I have known Republicans who can see that not everyone who falls on hard times is at fault for it, but will also call BS when they see situations like, say, the person who chooses to spend their whole paycheck on lotto tickets. :wink:

With religion, there are plenty of seemingly religious people who are quite aware that religion can’t be proven to be true, but who find participating in religious traditions rewarding and therefore don’t really care if it’s all true. There are plenty of Jewish atheists out there who will be quite open about not really buying into any of it but still practice because they just enjoy the traditions of Judaism. I think plenty of Christians are really very similar even if it’s less socially acceptable to identify as a “secular Christian”.

8

Yes, those. If I told you the amount of money they made each month you probably wouldn’t believe me. I don’t agree completely though. Sure, most people would recognize it for what it is. However, I think it’s obscure enough that a larger percentage of people don’t know much about it and would buy into it.

9

It was an up-front fee for a prototype. Somewhere between $8,000-15,000. I likened it to buying a $10,000 lottery ticket.

10

Doesn’t a person’s education sometimes work against them re: scams? “I’m too smart to fall for a scam, so this offer I accepted must be legitimate.” Circular reasoning and all that.

11

Jamicat, flybynight, thanks for the links. They seem to follow exactly what I am talking about.

Lavenderviolet - That was a very thoughtful response to perhaps my not-so-thoughtful examples. I guess I was being half-serious there. I am aware that people who buy lottery tickets or identify as conservative are not necessarily gulliblie idiots. Religion, on the other hand, I have to disagree with. I don’t know too many people who say they follow it but know it can’t be proven or just like it for the sake of tradition. More often than not, it’s black and white. They have faith and that’s the truth.

With that being said, I think you’re giving people too much credit. I can be pretty damn gullible myself. Case in point, after watching Zeitgeist, I started to believe that 911 was in fact a false-flag event perpetrated by our government to start a war. Thankfully, I brought this up here at The Dope and they set me straight.

There’s all kinds of niche’s people can fall prey, too. Maybe better examples would be things like racism or homophobia. Would these be widespread enough to be considered epidemic? I’m sure there’s more I just can’t think of any right now.

12

Evolution denial? Global warming denial? I know that there is some room for debate with these but the evidence is still overwhelmingly in favor of both. Yet, I bet a significant amount of people in this country would disagree with these theories.

Also, people who have problems but are in denial. These are much more common. Have you ever met someone who’s addicted to smoking, drinking, gambling, shopping, etc… and not admit they have a problem? All the signs are quite apparent, especially to anyone from the outside. Friends will even point these things out to them. Yet, there is no budge on their side to recognize it for what it is.

Not to mention all of the ridiculous beliefs people have had throughout history.

When you start to add these all up, it seems to me that people are crazier than one might realize.

13

Evolutionarily, I suspect the answer is “gullibility works for you”. That is, automatically believing the guy who shouts “look out! Sabre-tooth behind you!” is safer than automatically disbelieving him.

14

Life is a scam. If humans didn’t wear rose colored glasses the species would never have evolved.

15

.

In a lot of strip clubs, she most certainly will have sex with you.

16

By calling the victims of your scam “gullible,” I guess you feel better about taking their money, as if since the problem was with them and not with you, so somehow they are to blame.
You preyed upon weak-minded people and conned them into selling their cars, etc., and you pat yourself on the back for harvesting so many of these low-hanging fruit. Bravo.
I would say, why are people such jerks should be the actual question, but the answer is obvious - because they are greedy and it pays.

17

Actually I’m rather ashamed of it and wish I could pay them all back. I didn’t quite know what I was getting myself into at first. Also, it was what I considered my first “real” job and payed more than any I ever had.

But after I did start to realize what was going on I still stuck around. So I guess I am a greedy jerk but I had bills to pay too. It’s not exactly easy finding a decent job in this economy.

With all that being said, I still don’t think it makes any of them less gullible. By the way, I talked one guy out of selling his car. That was just an example from what I had saw.

18

I almost feel compelled to ask what it is you do for a living? Do you work for a non-profit? Are you a Doctor? Because as far as I can tell, we live in a dog-eat-dog world. Lawyers regularly get guilty men off scot-free. Accountants find ways to cut workers out of jobs for more profits at the top. Would you chastize a retail worder for promoting products made by an exploited worker in a 3rd world country? Would you criticize a Mcdonalds worker for contributing to the obesity problem in America?

19

You shouldn’t worry about it too much. If you weren’t knowingly engaged in illegal activity then you were doing what almost everyone does in their jobs. It’s a capitalistic system based on profit. Profit means getting more money for your product than it is worth. Nobody forced your customers to give you money, and they should have known better. Most people who get conned are not innocents, they are driven by their own greed and dishonesty. So far, you’ve done nothing that would disqualify you from running for president some day.

20

This gets at the heart of it. Human psychology has some weaknesses, and if you know where those weak points are and how to press on them, you’re more likely to get what you want out of another person.

Here’s Wikipedia’s list of cognitive biases. You mention “fear of loss,” which shows up on that list as loss aversion. Advertising that makes people want your product works pretty well, but advertising that makes people fear what might happen if they don’t purchase your product seems to work even better.

I think kids should be taught critical thinking skills as they’re growing up, and at some point they should be made aware of this list of cognitive biases and how it can affect their own thinking; that will at least give them a fighting chance at compensating for those biases.