Inoculation theory

These days, deception has taken a new face in Singapore history. From the past where conmen sell fake jewelleries or “magic” stones to the old folks to the current time where ignorant Singaporeans are deceived into transferring money to unknown account in China for a prize or a threat, it sometimes make me wonder as to how these guys actually managed to bluff their way through. This is especially so in the current times where conmen are able to trick people into filling unknown bank account in China with their hard earned money. The victims are often educated and supposedly “smart” adults which in theory should be able to see through the scam. To seek the answer for the above question may be important. However, I believe its more important right now to actually devise ways to prevent further Singaporeans from being conned of their money.

According to the textbook (Social Psychology Alive), Inoculation theory state that resistance to undesired persuasion can be built up by exposing people to arguments against their attitude position and giving them the counter arguments to refute the attacks (refutational defense). Therefore, inferring from the theory, if we are able to expose Singaporeans to conversations and arguments that these conmen use while giving counterarguments, we should be able to stop these conmen in their tracks. As a matter of fact, this technique is being employed to a certain degree after the conmen’s act was exposed. Newspapers and evening news broadcast information about the crime and advises from police and enforcement authorities advise public on dealing with these calls. However, even after the news was broadcasted, new victims kept on appearing. Does that mean that the Inoculation theory does not work? That’s difficult to say. This is because although there are new victims, there seem to be a steady decrease in the number of victims. So is there a better solution to the problem? It remains to be seen and discovered. However, what this experience show to me is that the world is never a safe place to be in and if you drop your guard, all it take is one incident and you may start to regret for the rest of your life.

Louis Tan

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