Scams and Aging: Factors Impacting Effective Decision Making

The present study investigated the older adults’ unique vulnerability to fraud and scams by understanding the role of social, cognitive, and knowledge-based factors, and testing a prevention paradigm. Studies 1 and 2 built upon preliminary work by examining social and cognitive predictors of prior victimization in community dwelling Chinese older adults. Study 3 examined the most promising factors again in a Canadian sample. The results here suggest that older adults in China who experience more socioemotional disturbance due to isolation may be at higher risk of victimization compared to their peers and compared to those in Canada. To better understand vulnerability, an objective scam detection task was designed for studies 4 and 5. Study 4 examined predictors of detection ability in older and younger adults and found a combined role of cognitive processing and accumulated knowledge after controlling for social and demographic factors. Study 5 used these findings to test a training with feedback paradigm to improve detection ability. Immediately after training, the intervention group performed significantly better than the control group, while the alternative education intervention group did not. However, the gains declined significantly by the three-week follow-up. Collectively, the findings support the need for age-based investigations of fraud vulnerability, the need for objective behavioural measures, and the possibility of knowledge-based interventions albeit with additional improvements.

Department dc:contributor.department

Applied Psychology and Human Development

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Judges, Rebecca

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Lee, Kang

• cognitive aging
• decision making
• fraud
• isolation
• older adults
• scams

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1807/123121

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/123121