Researcher ORCID Identifier

0009-0009-1775-0995

Graduation Year

2024

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Psychology

Reader 1

Stacey Wood

Reader 2

Jennifer Groscup

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Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2023 Ellis C Garel

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to understand why people fall for scams and seeks to explore what interventions for scam prevention are the most effective in older adults. Participants: Approximately 686 participants aged 65 and above will be randomly assigned to view one of four intervention types: celebrity endorsement PSA, community-based PSA, personal advice from a family member, or the control group. Method: A path analysis will be conducted to examine how the type of intervention, gender of the participant, and history of financial fraud, mediated through concerns and susceptibility to scams, impact the propensity to fall for a hypothetical scam call. Results: The hypothesized path model fit is expected to fit the data quite well, and we would expect a small amount of variance accounted for overall. We would expect the relationships between the type of intervention, gender, history of financial fraud, concerns about scams, susceptibility to scams, and the propensity to fall for a scam to be significant. Mediation analysis would also reveal significant indirect paths for the type of intervention, gender, and history of financial fraud on the propensity to fall for scam through concerns about scams and susceptibility to scams. Conclusion: This research offers insight into the cognitive and behavioral factors influencing scam susceptibility. Findings from this work would extend beyond academic knowledge, as it has the potential to provide society with effective tools and targeted interventions to reduce scam compliance in older adults, which could be implemented on a local, national, and global scale.

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