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Does anyone know what happens to the people when they get old, so they become gullible? Is there some physiological mechanism, or is it just that older people a

Does anyone know what happens to the people when they get old, so they become gullible? Is there some physiological mechanism, or is it just that older people are less sophisticated about those issues?

b3lvedere 11y ago
"Wizard's First Rule: people are stupid." Richard and Kahlan frowned even more. "People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People's heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool. "Because of Wizards First Rule, the old wizards created Confessors, and Seekers, as a means of helping find the truth, when the truth is important enough. Darken Rahl knows the Wizard's Rules. He is using the first one. People need an enemy to feel a sense of purpose. It's easy to lead people when they have a sense of purpose. Sense of purpose is more important by far than the truth. In fact, truth has no bearing in this. Darken Rahl is providing them with an enemy, other than himself, a sense of purpose. People are stupid; they want to believe, so they do." — Chapter 36, p.560, U.S. paperback edition of Terry Goodkind's awesome book with the same title.
- arbitrage 11y ago
  That's an offensively trite and simplified viewpoint on a very complicated and heartbreaking topic.
  - Leszek 11y ago
    I made the mistake of reading this book once: the rest of it is similarly awful.
  - Lawtonfogle 11y ago
    Very rarely do I ever see any popular culture handling of a complex topic that isn't.
  - b3lvedere 11y ago
    I do apologize. It was never my intention to insult anybody.
afandian 11y ago
As you grow up, you calibrate to the world. My theory is that ability to change your calibration once it's developed is difficult, and probably gets more difficult as you get older. These scams weren't around at this scale, and with this much potential for damage, when older people were growing up. It's probably quite hard to shake the instinct that when someone says they're from the bank on the phone, they probably are. I'm sure there will be new things that I will be susceptible to in a few decades. Also, people tend to abandon the old and vulnerable. It's just what happens. They're left alone. If the only voices they hear are the guy on the phone and their internal monologue, with no 'sensible' moderating force, and a potentially unlimited amount of time, it can be very easy for things to get skewed.
adekok 11y ago
As you get older, you lose some discrimination ability.
saint_fiasco 11y ago
It's hard to tell because the old people who are more sophisticated and know a lot about money are usually the kind of people who keep themselves mentally active in their old age. That means they are both more sophisticated and physiologically more mentally healthy. It's hard to separate the two.
- DanBC 11y ago
  That's not how dementia works.
  - saint_fiasco 11y ago
    What part? I'm almost sure the part about being mentally active to delay dementia is true. Does that only work on Alzheimer's disease, and not dementia in general?
    - DanBC 11y ago
      Do you have any research papers to show that mental activity delays onset of dementia illnesses? So far what I've seen has been poor quality studies or early investigations. So, it might help, but we don't know yet. The part I was mostly querying was about money being protective. It probably isn't. rich people probably get dementia at the same rate as poor people. https://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/publication/preventing-alzheimers-disease/search-alzheimers-prevention-strategies https://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/publication/preventing-al... > Unlike age and genetics, certain health and lifestyle factors associated with Alzheimer’s disease risk may be controlled. Scientists are exploring prevention strategies to determine whether or not things like exercise, diet, and “brain games” can help delay or prevent Alzheimer’s disease and age-related cognitive decline. They are also investigating how certain medical conditions, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes, influence risk for cognitive impairment. > So far, studies have not demonstrated that, over the long term, health or lifestyle factors can prevent or slow Alzheimer’s disease or age-related cognitive decline. Similarly, clinical trial results do not support the use of any particular medication or dietary supplement to prevent these conditions.
    - 11y ago
navait 11y ago
I've read some sources that state as adults get older, they lose some of their inhibitions even if they don't suffer from dementia. However, I couldn't find any scholarly papers to back that up. Most of them are specific case studies, not statistical investigations. What I did find however, is a paper that claims older adults are not more likely to be defrauded than the rest of the population. I'm somewhat skeptical of the claim, but it should be evaluated: http://pps.sagepub.com/content/9/4/427.short http://pps.sagepub.com/content/9/4/427.short
DanBC 11y ago
Why assume that scams only work on old people? This particular scam is targeted at old people, but plenty of very lucrative scams target working age adults.
simonw 11y ago
As Cognition Slips, Financial Skills Are Often the First to Go: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/25/your-money/as-cognitivity-slips-financial-skills-are-often-the-first-to-go.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/25/your-money/as-cognitivity-...
eljimmy 11y ago
I think it varies person to person and very much like you stated it comes from their naivety.
jakejake 11y ago
In some cases like my great grandfather, I suspect he actually enjoyed the conversation because he was bored. Even though we went to his house nearly every day, there's still a lot of hours in the day. He didn't get scammed over the phone but he probably had his driveway re-sealed 4-5 times a year. We would chase them away but they knew they could get him when there was nobody else around. Sickening people who do this. It seemed possible that he knew his driveway didn't need sealed, but he would sit outside and chat with them for the 3-4 hours it took to do the job.
michaelpinto 11y ago
That's easy to answer: Dementia. http://www.dementiaguide.com/symptomlibrary/thinkingjudgement/judgment/ http://www.dementiaguide.com/symptomlibrary/thinkingjudgemen... Dementia can grow slowly over time and can impact your judgement. And said person can be highly functional at the time, so the relatives don't know until something goes wrong.

b3lvedere 11y ago

"Wizard's First Rule: people are stupid." Richard and Kahlan frowned even more. "People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People's heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool. "Because of Wizards First Rule, the old wizards created Confessors, and Seekers, as a means of helping find the truth, when the truth is important enough. Darken Rahl knows the Wizard's Rules. He is using the first one. People need an enemy to feel a sense of purpose. It's easy to lead people when they have a sense of purpose. Sense of purpose is more important by far than the truth. In fact, truth has no bearing in this. Darken Rahl is providing them with an enemy, other than himself, a sense of purpose. People are stupid; they want to believe, so they do." — Chapter 36, p.560, U.S. paperback edition of Terry Goodkind's awesome book with the same title.

arbitrage 11y ago
That's an offensively trite and simplified viewpoint on a very complicated and heartbreaking topic.
- Leszek 11y ago
  I made the mistake of reading this book once: the rest of it is similarly awful.
- Lawtonfogle 11y ago
  Very rarely do I ever see any popular culture handling of a complex topic that isn't.
- b3lvedere 11y ago
  I do apologize. It was never my intention to insult anybody.

afandian 11y ago

As you grow up, you calibrate to the world. My theory is that ability to change your calibration once it's developed is difficult, and probably gets more difficult as you get older. These scams weren't around at this scale, and with this much potential for damage, when older people were growing up. It's probably quite hard to shake the instinct that when someone says they're from the bank on the phone, they probably are. I'm sure there will be new things that I will be susceptible to in a few decades. Also, people tend to abandon the old and vulnerable. It's just what happens. They're left alone. If the only voices they hear are the guy on the phone and their internal monologue, with no 'sensible' moderating force, and a potentially unlimited amount of time, it can be very easy for things to get skewed.

adekok 11y ago

As you get older, you lose some discrimination ability.

saint_fiasco 11y ago

It's hard to tell because the old people who are more sophisticated and know a lot about money are usually the kind of people who keep themselves mentally active in their old age. That means they are both more sophisticated and physiologically more mentally healthy. It's hard to separate the two.

DanBC 11y ago
That's not how dementia works.
- saint_fiasco 11y ago
  What part? I'm almost sure the part about being mentally active to delay dementia is true. Does that only work on Alzheimer's disease, and not dementia in general?
  - DanBC 11y ago
    Do you have any research papers to show that mental activity delays onset of dementia illnesses? So far what I've seen has been poor quality studies or early investigations. So, it might help, but we don't know yet. The part I was mostly querying was about money being protective. It probably isn't. rich people probably get dementia at the same rate as poor people. https://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/publication/preventing-alzheimers-disease/search-alzheimers-prevention-strategies https://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/publication/preventing-al... > Unlike age and genetics, certain health and lifestyle factors associated with Alzheimer’s disease risk may be controlled. Scientists are exploring prevention strategies to determine whether or not things like exercise, diet, and “brain games” can help delay or prevent Alzheimer’s disease and age-related cognitive decline. They are also investigating how certain medical conditions, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes, influence risk for cognitive impairment. > So far, studies have not demonstrated that, over the long term, health or lifestyle factors can prevent or slow Alzheimer’s disease or age-related cognitive decline. Similarly, clinical trial results do not support the use of any particular medication or dietary supplement to prevent these conditions.
  - 11y ago

navait 11y ago

I've read some sources that state as adults get older, they lose some of their inhibitions even if they don't suffer from dementia. However, I couldn't find any scholarly papers to back that up. Most of them are specific case studies, not statistical investigations. What I did find however, is a paper that claims older adults are not more likely to be defrauded than the rest of the population. I'm somewhat skeptical of the claim, but it should be evaluated: http://pps.sagepub.com/content/9/4/427.short http://pps.sagepub.com/content/9/4/427.short

DanBC 11y ago

Why assume that scams only work on old people? This particular scam is targeted at old people, but plenty of very lucrative scams target working age adults.

simonw 11y ago

As Cognition Slips, Financial Skills Are Often the First to Go: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/25/your-money/as-cognitivity-slips-financial-skills-are-often-the-first-to-go.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/25/your-money/as-cognitivity-...

eljimmy 11y ago

I think it varies person to person and very much like you stated it comes from their naivety.

jakejake 11y ago

In some cases like my great grandfather, I suspect he actually enjoyed the conversation because he was bored. Even though we went to his house nearly every day, there's still a lot of hours in the day. He didn't get scammed over the phone but he probably had his driveway re-sealed 4-5 times a year. We would chase them away but they knew they could get him when there was nobody else around. Sickening people who do this. It seemed possible that he knew his driveway didn't need sealed, but he would sit outside and chat with them for the 3-4 hours it took to do the job.

michaelpinto 11y ago

That's easy to answer: Dementia. http://www.dementiaguide.com/symptomlibrary/thinkingjudgement/judgment/ http://www.dementiaguide.com/symptomlibrary/thinkingjudgemen... Dementia can grow slowly over time and can impact your judgement. And said person can be highly functional at the time, so the relatives don't know until something goes wrong.