Money, Mind And Meaning

How to Avoid Financial Scams Stephen Greenspan is a psychologist and author of the Annals of Gullibility: Why We Get Duped and How to Avoid It. Greenspan’s book outlines notable instances of gullibility including the Trojan Horse, the failure to locate weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the bad science surrounding cold fusion. Most of the book focuses on anecdotes, but the final chapter sets forth the anatomy of being fooled and attributes it to some combination of the following factors: • Social pressures – Fraud is often committed within “affinity groups” such as people who hail from a similar religious background. • Cognition – At some level, being duped represents a lack of knowledge or clarity of thought (but not necessarily a lack of intelligence). • Personality – A propensity toward belief and difficulty saying “no” may lead people to be taken advantage of. • Emotion – The prospect of some emotional payday (e.g., the thrill of making easy money) often catalyzes questionable decision-making. In a f