Fraudsters often attempt to evoke strong emotions in their target victims to convince them to pay money, and seniors may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of high-arousal emotions on decision-making. With funding from AARP and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, psychologists at Stanford University conducted a study that found that inducing high-arousal emotions in older adults made them more susceptible to misleading advertisements, increasing their intention to buy the falsely advertised items.
SEARCH RESEARCH ARCHIVE
CENTER PUBLICATIONS
The Impact of Survey Context on Self-Reported Rates of Fraud Victimization
research in brief
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The Scope of the Problem
an overview of fraud prevalence measurement
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Scams, Schemes, & Swindles
a review of consumer financial fraud research
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Financial Fraud and Fraud Susceptibility in the United States
Research Report from a 2012 National Survey
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Consumer Fraud in the United States
the third FTC survey
Read moreCENTER CONFERENCES
The True Impact of Fraud: A Roundtable of Experts
Washington, DC 2014
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The State and Future of Financial Fraud
Washington, DC 2011
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