Doctor Nikishina explained the vulnerability of teenagers to scammers

Teenagers have become one of the main targets of fraudsters due to their undeveloped critical thinking and low ability to predict, Vera Nikishina, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Director of the Institute of Clinical Psychology and Social Work at Pirogov University of the Russian Ministry of Health, told RIA Novosti.

She specified that teenagers do not have developed critical or abstract-logical thinking. It can be formed by the end of adolescence in the absence of psychopathology. Critical thinking allows you to build cause-and-effect relationships, distinguish between the general and the particular. Its absence makes teenagers vulnerable to manipulation.

According to the doctor, fraudulent schemes are often built on the principles of game content. The scenario of involving a teenager resembles a game. It transfers actions permitted and repeated many times in the game to a real situation. A problem arises: the boundary between virtual reality (mediated by technology) and real life. For teenagers, this boundary is blurred, the expert said.

She added that a teenager is ideal for the influence of scammers. At this age, the ability to predict consequences is not fully formed, which also reduces the ability to protect oneself from manipulation. In addition, the social environment actively broadcasts the attitude of invulnerability, and the scammer can convince a teenager by telling him: "Nothing will happen to you because you are a minor" or "You are young, you will be pitied," as if he is not responsible for his actions, Nikishina noted.

According to her, it is precisely because of the lack of critical thinking and weak forecasting that this age group has become an obvious target for scammers and manipulators.

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