Why do old people always want to trust strangers?

However, even such fake news, even if the police are not there, can't stop the old people. So I'm going to give you a psychological analysis of why the old man believes in rumors and why you can't persuade him in the future. This just involves a very important topic in psychology-the trust of the elderly. 20 12 There is an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which discusses how old people and young people judge the credibility of some strangers when they see their faces at the same time. It can be seen that the elderly are at greater risk of being cheated when they first meet strangers than young people. That's not fair. In fact, it is a worldwide problem that the elderly are cheated, and a large number of elderly people are cheated abroad.

Why do old people always want to trust strangers? Come and have a look with me.

Zhang Xin

Lilac doctor author

Associate Professor, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University

"If you deposit in 50 yuan, you can get a return of 654.38+10,000 yuan." "Transportation and accommodation expenses can be reimbursed, and you can also receive 50,000 yuan of charity money on the spot ..."

Image source: Network screenshot

Every time I see this rumor with zero credibility, I can't help but feel that "this rumor is really bad." However, even such fake news, even if the police are not there, can't stop the old people.

"I have told you this is false/has been refuted. Why don't you listen? 」

Don't think too simple about liars, they are professionals, and their target audience is the elderly, not you; At the same time, don't overestimate the role of rumors.

So I'm going to give you a psychological analysis of why the old man believes in rumors and why you can't persuade him in the future.

This just involves a very important topic in psychology-the trust of the elderly.

Meet someone for the first time.

Older people are more likely to trust untrustworthy faces.

The difference in trust actually appeared when we first met. Let's talk about this problem from the perspective of impression management.

20 12 There is an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that discusses how old people and young people judge the credibility of some strangers when they see their faces at the same time.

The researchers prepared 30 faces (according to the pre-classification, these images were divided into 10 credible faces, 10 neutral faces and 10 untrustworthy faces). The results are as follows:

Image source: document screenshot

As can be seen from the picture, old people and young people feel the same about credible faces; However, there is a significant age difference when faced with untrustworthy faces. Old people are more likely to trust untrustworthy faces than young people.

At the same time, this paper also discusses the neural basis (that is, why the elderly are more likely to trust others). As a result, they found that the insula (more specifically, the left forebrain) may play a key role in the limbic system.

According to the research of cognitive neuroscience, the function of insula includes risk assessment and decision-making safety prediction.

It is found that there is a significant difference in the activation of insula between the elderly and young people when facing different faces, and the activation of insula in the elderly is weak.

Image source: document screenshot

It can be seen that the elderly are at greater risk of being cheated than the young when they first meet strangers.

Daily contact (with)

Older people are also more likely to judge by their faces.

When people are in contact with people they are not familiar with, they often follow the principle of adding or subtracting points, that is, if this person does something I appreciate (such as helping me), I can give him a point; But if he does something that makes me unhappy (for example, he lied to me), I will deduct points from him. And whether I keep in touch with him depends on my score.

But remember, this rule only applies to young people! Because the decline of the cognitive system of the elderly does not support him to do such complicated processing (in short, it involves the renewal of the memory system).

20 16 Japanese scholar Atsunobu Suzuki made an experiment, in which the subjects played several rounds of investment games with an imaginary partner.

In the experiment, the researcher manipulated two variables of the imaginary partner: the first is the credibility/untrustworthiness of the face, and the second is whether his investment behavior is honest (that is, whether it will deceive you).

Therefore, in this experiment, a partner with a credible face can do honest/dishonest things, and a partner with an untrustworthy face can also do honest/dishonest things. The subject's task is to judge whether he needs to continue investing in his partner by his behavior in several competitions.

There is also an interesting age difference in the research results. For young people, it is entirely possible to decide whether to continue investing in their opponents according to their behaviors. But the old man is totally watching! Face! Yes!

The decisive factor in their decision whether to continue investing in imaginary individuals is whether that face is credible! As long as you look reliable, old people will always believe you, even if you lie to them.

Of course, this conclusion is a bit exaggerated, but the basic point is that a very important condition that affects whether the elderly trust you is whether you have a trustworthy face.

Older people pay more attention to emotional experience.

Behind the news of "taking money for free to cheat the elderly", there is another question worthy of our consideration, which is also a very representative question in psychology-what kind of information will make the elderly people buy it?

The lies made up by swindlers are not credible at all. Why do old people still believe them? Know one thing: "Old people don't analyze content! 」

From the theory of social emotional selectivity, we can know that for the elderly, the purpose of reading is not to acquire knowledge, but to obtain positive emotional experience.

Under such circumstances, what kind of information is most attractive? "Live a better life for my family!" "Shocked! For your family! In the hardest hit area of this kind of information dissemination-WeChat, such headlines abound.

Older people despise risk even more.

Compared with young people, another remarkable feature of the elderly is that they are more indifferent to risks under the temptation of high income. Therefore, when such a good thing (deposited in 50 yuan, you can get a return of 6,543,800 yuan) comes to your door, they will surely flock to you. Young people will judge that high returns must be accompanied by high risks, and things that fall from the sky will not happen.

Mata et al. also found in an article in Psychology and Aging (20 16) that both self-report and behavior measurement found that the elderly were more risk-averse.

In order to prevent the elderly from being deceived, family members should participate.

Some people think that old people in China have come from hard times, so they are caught by swindlers. That's not fair. In fact, it is a worldwide problem that the elderly are cheated, and a large number of elderly people are cheated abroad.

At present, everyone may still focus on what causes the credulity of the elderly. Only by finding out the reasons for credulity can we intervene accordingly. However, there are a few points for reference.

Attach importance to the role of emotion in the decision-making of the elderly

From the perspective of dual processing model, the decision-making of the elderly depends more on emotion/experience, and how to make emotions play a guiding role may be a possible solution.

For example, Mikels and others' article on JEP found that the decision-making priority of the elderly when they pay attention to their own emotions is better than that when they pay attention to details.

Older people pay more attention to intimacy, and their families should also participate.

Knock on the door. Black! Board! If family members can't meet their corresponding needs, others will take advantage of this to replace family members, such as liars.

Remember that liars often don't lie to old people from the beginning. They always gain the trust of the old people step by step. But when he gains trust, the old people will never trust others again (even if they are cheated, they will even defend the liar).

It's like in some scams, fraud gangs form a WeChat group, and members are commensurate with their families. At first, they just shared chicken soup every day, learned positive energy and held an online virtual flag-raising ceremony in the group. When the members of the group became a loving family, they began to cheat in an organized and planned way. It's much better to see how ruthless the swindlers are than to simply spread rumors.

Therefore, the effective anti-fraud method is to go home more, spend more time with the elderly and communicate with them more.

Producer Fan Fan

Is typesetting Susie.

refer to

Castle, Eisenberg, new york, Seaman, T.E., Moon, W.G., Boguereau, Los Angeles, greenblatt, M.S., & Taylor, S. E. (20 12). Neural and behavioral basis of age difference in trust cognition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109, 20848–20852. doi: 10. 1073/PNAS . 12 185 18 109

[2] Mamerow, L., Frey, R., & Mata River (20 16). Cross-life-cycle risk-taking: comparison between self-report and risk-taking behavior measurement. Psychology and aging, 3 1(7), 7 1 1-723. doi: 10. 1037/PAG 0000 124

Michels, J.A., Lckenhoff, C.E., Maglio, S.J., Carstensen, L.L., Goldstein, M.K., & Gaber, A. (20 10). Follow your heart or your head: Paying attention to emotions and information has different effects on the decisions of young people and old people. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Application, 16( 1), 87.

[4] Suzuki (20 16). When judging a person's credibility, the elderly continue to rely on facial appearance. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Science and Social Science. doi: 10. 1093/geronb/gbw 034