The New Yorker ran a moving, revealing story called The Perfect Mark in the May 15th issue. Written by Mitchell Zuckoff, it tells ‘how a Massachusetts psychotherapist fell for a Nigerian e-mail scam.’ When it comes to explaining the victim’s behaviour, greed and fear played a big part, as you would expect. The article identifies two other factors which were important: The motivation to take advantage of an ‘opportunity’ and the desire to help someone.
Grabbing an opportunity…
Robert B. Reich, the former Labor Secretary, who has studied the psychology of market behavior, says, “American culture is uniquely prone to the ‘too good to miss’ fallacy. ‘Opportunity’ is our favorite word. What may seem reckless and feckless and hapless to people in many parts of the world seems a justifiable risk to Americans.”
Helping people…
Soon Worley was put in touch with someone claiming to be the General’s widow, Maryam Abacha. In a torrent of phone calls and e-mails, she appealed to Worley. “I learned you wanted to hear from me,” she wrote. “Here I am. Help me.” In his e-mails, Worley seemed invigorated by this new scenario; he apparently believed that he was on the verge of becoming rich while rescuing a woman in distress.
When I was eighteen, I was the victim of a dishonest landlord who conned me out of a few hundred pounds – all the money I had then – and I detest and loath people that exploit others like this. A lot of my time is spent writing IT security advice to help others avoid it happening to them.
But can’t we learn something good out of something bad? I’m interested in the psychological underpinnings of writing. Writing in business isn’t about entertainment. It’s about persuading and informing people. It connects to Hannah Arendt’s notion of the two main functions of the mind: willing and judging.
Perhaps there is a lesson here for honourable people who wish to communicate with people. Fear and greed may be powerful but using them smacks of dishonesty. The desire to help and the sense of opportunity are almost as powerful and, because they come from the better angels of our nature, perhaps they are less disreputable means of persuasion. This is how charities and companies seeking investment raise money, for example. This is also, perhaps, why lotteries play up the charity element and the ‘opportunity’ involved (“it could be you”) more than the size of the jackpot.
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