Question

Question: Imagine that you are a reader of a newspaper that has a section that allows ‘letters to the edito...

Imagine that you are a reader of a newspaper that has a section that allows ‘letters to the editor.’ (This is where readers are able to write and submit a short article arguing for some point of view). Three such hypothetical letters are below. Imagine that you are writing a response to these letters. Write a response in which you use your social psychology knowledge to argue against the letter writer.

(2) How anyone could have been fooled by Edward Fresno’s money-making program is beyond me. These are supposedly intelligent people who joined this group (cult is more like it!), who were promised to make millions of dollars. What a scam it turned out to be when it was discovered that the whole program was a pyramid scheme! There have been a lot of explanations for how this occurred – for instance, how Edward Fresno was a charismatic person who enticed these people by offering them gradual rewards for being part of the group, or how these people were isolated from others who were not part of the group and thus came to reach really poor decisions because of the lack of outside criticism – but let’s look at the facts. These people had to give up everything to join this group – how could an intelligent person come to enjoy being part of a group like that? How could this Edward Fresno individual persuade intelligent people? Obviously these people weren’t that smart. Anyone with half a brain could have seen years ago that this was a scam! -Josh M. Grant

Answer 1

People get cheated for various reasons and most of the time it’s because of their ignorance. Even one scores high in intelligence tests, one fails too because it’s more about attitude and lifestyle. People sometimes get cheated because of their greed. They always believe in false promises and they want them to be real. It’s more of reasoning than intelligence. It’s also about the social conformity. When a group of people in the society go behind something, others naturally follow in order to not to be left out. There is also something called persuasion which most of the charismatic leaders use to bring in more acceptance to their speech and convince them to believe in what they say. They use their rhetoric power to mesmerize and get things done. So, I think it’s not just about intelligence but also about other factors that compel one to decide.