3.4 Your Responsibility to Be Skeptical

Our discussion so far has included many examples of unethical people causing harm to others, such as through scams, which may have made you wish for stricter laws against that sort of thing. Let’s go back and look through another lens. Starting two decades ago, before email spam filters were very effective, I began collecting examples of “advance fee scams” (originally called “the Nigerian prince scam”) that arrived in my inbox. The general format was always the same: someone I don’t know claimed they were related to a rich person who died leaving behind a huge bank account which the person needed help accessing, and if I was willing to help them out, I would receive a healthy chunk of that inheritance — but the details and wording of the emails were always different, every single day. The question that puzzled me was “Who falls for this?” If the answer is “no one,” then why are the writers wasting all that time writing new stories? I was shocked to discover that, even after decades, thousands of people fall for this scam every year, so it’s a profitable venture for the scammers.

Romance scams, in which suitors woo lonely people in order to drain their bank accounts, are equally successful. Americans lost over $735 million to these scams in 2022 alone, including a woman from Massachusetts who gave her life savings to a man she had fallen in love with over the previous six months. The FBI and other parties are working hard to prevent such outcomes, but there’s one thing that would help even more than all of their efforts: if people stopped falling for the scams. As harsh as it is to blame the victim, more caution would bring all of these scams to a complete halt.

Misinformation was a big concern around the 2016 U.S. election, and investigations revealed surprising details about who was disseminating the lies: some of the heaviest contributors were teenagers in North Macedonia. They got rich from their endeavors, but it was difficult for the American government to do anything since the lies were originating on the other side of the world. Again: stopping them at the source would help, but it’s ultimately about people at the receiving end — ”influencing the election” means people allowing themselves to be persuaded by information they should not believe.

Responsibility, then, doesn’t just apply to the source of messages: every time one of these unethical tactics succeeds, the scammer knows their efforts are worthwhile, and we all suffer as a result. Receivers thus have ethical responsibilities as well, and their social responsibility to uphold the common good isn’t being met. That may seem like an extra burden to put on an elderly widow who just gave $150,000 to someone who “seemed honest and sincere,” but is a reminder to all of us that gullibility doesn’t just harm the gullible person; it harms everyone.

Charles Larson used the term “reasoned skepticism” to describe the ideal attitude the receiver of messages should hold.^[1] It doesn’t mean being cynical and untrusting of everyone: this approach is too automatic, and leads to people dismissing sources who should be believed (SEE Chapter 9: Credibility). Instead, skepticism means that the receiver should ask intelligent questions, and withhold judgment until those questions are answered. Instead of saying “All politicians are liars,” an attitude it doesn’t take much effort to maintain, reasoned skepticism brings with it the responsibility to ask, “Is this politician lying in this instance?” This isn’t easy: uncertainty can be emotionally uncomfortable, and it is more comforting to be sure of something. It brings with it the willingness to admit you are wrong, which can be an ego threat. And most of all, it brings a responsibility to do intellectual work: questioning, examining, researching. Reasoned skepticism doesn’t allow for laziness, but it is our ethical responsibility.

Years ago, a student in my Persuasion Theories class was eager to tell me about a marketing opportunity he had discovered, and relayed the story of going to a meeting in which everyone dressed nicely, drove fancy cars, and exuded an aura of success. That all sounded nice, but I suggested that he look up this company with the local Chamber of Commerce or the Better Business Bureau. A few months later, he came back to tell me that he never got around to making those inquiries, and he lost a few hundred dollars in admission fees to something that didn’t turn out to be what it seemed. He probably learned more about persuasion from that experience than he did in my course, but it would have been even better not to have to “learn the hard way.” On the other hand, there are some great career opportunities out there that people might be too suspicious of, and being overly skeptical can close doors that would have benefitted you greatly. Ask the questions, but be open to both negative and positive answers.