Evening Star Newspaper, June 25, 1933, Page 73

WHY NSWER these questions, then read the story and see how gullible you may be. 1—If you were told that an open- handed, gemerous man, never given to saving, had thousands of dollars hidden away in his home, would you belicve it? 2—If a personable fellowe, educated and prosperous and clainmiing to be a dis- tinguished FEuropcan scicntist, came to you wsth the declaration that he could double in size and quantity any gold coin or bullion intrusted to him. zcould vyou gvve him such gold as vou might have? 3—Did you belicie, prior to the late election, that “grass wcould grow in the strects of @ hundred cities”™ if the Demo- crats won? 4—Or that Democratic managers were right in their claims that they would carry every single Statc” S5—If a self-styled doctor, claimsng to be “the wmost adcanced occult master spiritualist and sccr of the twentieth cen- tury,” and prescnting an alleged record of cures e distant parts of the world, asked you to give up vour family doctor and intrust your sick wifc and three chil- dren to his care. would you do so! 6—Do you belicee that the late Earl of Carnarvon died as a result of a curse in- voked in antsquuity wpoi any and all who might break into the Towmb of Kwg Tut-ankh-Amen?” 7—Do wyou belicve that there ss in existence a fish which can live on land for a-while and elimd trees” 8—Do you belicve that anibergris—the substance spewed up by sick whales and found on beaches—ichile in ats natural state probably the most coil smelling stuff in the world, ¢s the basis of the finest and most lasting of perfumes” 9 Do vyou belicie the story that Dr. Alexis Carrel at Rockefeller Institute, New York, kept a picce of chicken heart alize for vears after the chicken died AKING his milk pail in band, a cer- tain Midwest farmer went to his town post office, put the container on the counter and, without batting an eye, asked the postmaster to “fill her up with beer.” The astonished postman protested that the farmer must be crazy, to which the countryman replied, in all seriousness and honesty: “Why, they told us we could get beer at the po:t office if Roosevelt was elected.” This was regarded as such a “good one” that the reporters put it on the wires, newspapers throughout the country played it up, and most every one enjoyed a good laugh at the farmer’s expense Yet juct why every one chould laugh is some- THE SUNDAY STAR, SOME PEOPLE BELIEVE WASHINGTON, D. C, JUNE 25, 1933 The Amazing Gullibility of Human Beings Takes in All Classes—Schooled and Unschooled, Old and Young, Rich . and 1 thing of a mystery. The simple truth is that perhaps 90 per cent of us are just as gulhible as the farmer. if not in one way, then in an- other. And if the curious fact is that this co- lossal human gullibility is not confined to any one class or type. but takes in all kinds ot persons, from bankers, scientists, doctors, law- yers and such to unschooled folk like the farmer, old and young, rich and poor. The recent escapades of Harry F. Gerguson, who has successfully posed as a Russian prince for several years, associating with scions of society and artistic and literary folk, as well as Hollywood directors, shows how gullibility 18 no respecter of intelligence, accomplishment or social position; they are all gullible, some more than others, pcrhaps, but yet all have the germs of gullibility. The questionnaire printed with this story has been prepared especially for this article with the idea that it may prove interesting and amusing to readers who. never having thought much about their own gullibility before, as is the case with most folk, would like to test themselves along this line. Curiously enough, it is the first one of 1ts kind known to the writer, though psychologists elsewhere have conducted extensive researches into the gullibility of children which bring to light something of the reason why, as a well- known scientist said the other day. “We are getting so we will believe anything.” HE majority of children, according to the findings of Dr. J. A. Gilbert, now psychia- trist at Portland, Oreg., and formerly a pro- fessor at Yale, estimate ihe weight of things held in their hands by size, Two objects, identical in weight, but one large and the other small, were put, one In each hand, of the individual children and each was asked which was the heavier. By far the gest number id the bigger object was heavier, their eves having greater influence in their judgment than the actual testimony of their hands and arms. Other experiments indicate other factors that make children gullible. For example, Prot. Norman Triplett discovered that when he jug- gled golf balls before groups of eighth-grade pupils and stopped suddenly, as many as 50 per cent could not tell precisely when he stopped but saw the balls in the air for an appreciable period thereafter. And Dr. M. H. Small founa that 73 per cent of 540 children reported they 00r. smelled odors when pure water was sprayed from a perfume atomizer about the class room. In other words, the children were interested in seeing the balls going through the air, and saw them finally not only with the visual eye, but with the eye of their imagination: tbat 1s, finally they saw what they were interested in seeing—or wanted to see—rather than what, in actuality, they did see. So. too, with the atomizer. No doubt, on see- ing the atomizer the little ones thought of pleas- anit perfumes, anticipated pleasure from smell- ing and, indeed, in accord with well-known laws of mind, came to experience a vicarious pleasure in anticipation which equally made them be- lieve they had smelled the perfumes But, as every one knows, the pleasures of an- ticipation are certainly as enjoyable—and as infiuential—among adults as amcng children. ‘There remains one more experiment whicn shows another factor which makes children gullible—and oldsters as well. A French psy- chologist repeated this procedure with a large number of grammar school pupils. She would show the pupil a color, have the child name it, and then gravely tell the child it was not that oolor, but anothcr—in other words that if it was blue, she would say green. She found that the average 7-year-old child could be easily persuaded that he or she was wrong and the psychologist right, and that the average 11-year-old was only a little more posi- tive and a little less gullible. Of course, it may be argued that. naturally, the child would take the teacher's word, but again there is the point. How many adults do you know who do not similarly take the word of the Treasurer of the United States, for ex- ample, of the acknowledged medical specialist, the pre-eminent politician or the rich, fescinat- ing promoter? HUS it is not clear that the factors which make children gullible are virtually the same that make acdults gullible? Indeed. from a psychological viewpoint they arc basically the same, only becoming a little more comblicated and subtle as we grow older. Now, all of the questions in our guestionnaire relate to actual instances wherein gullibie hu- mans have been victimized, save for three which cite facts which are true. but wh'ch by their unusualness might seem false. Consequently, if you have honestly an-wered “yes” to those three—which they are will ap- ANYTHING pear shortly—and “no” to the others, you @re one out of 10 persons, roughly speaking, when it comes to gullibility. You can be trusted- with money among fakirs, fraudulent promoters and " practitioners. Let us consider the questions as they are set down. We can start with No. 1. The facts were reported in the papers just the other day. In a rooming house, the pro- prietor was given $1,000 to keep by a roomer. After showing it to a friend, the proprietor put it secretly in the bank. Through gossip the story got around that not only had he bidden the money in the home, but he had likewise “banked” much money for other friends and roomers. The proprietor said nothing. and one night he was murdered and the house ransacked by roomers who believed the gossip and who found omly about $100. Is it not clear how gullibility induced certain folks to this crime? They believed money was hidden in the house, not because they had in- vestigated, but because they wanted money so badly, so emotionally that they came to believe it was there—even to the extent of committing murder to get it. Thus similarly, though with no such fatal results, with question No. 6. Many per- sons have believed that Yord Carnarvon died at the tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen as the result of a curse. The great archeologist died, in fact, of infection received from germs or poison en- tering his system through a scratch or cut in- curred in his work. Yet the imagination of thousands all over the world were stirred by the story of the curse; they believed it, not because of reasoning analy- sis, but because under their emotional wonder, terror and amazement over the strange possi< bilities of the old curse and the unknown, in- human forces behind it, they did not think to weigh and consider the facts. Now, while all of these questions of fathure to investigate, and surrender, instead, to the urge of emotions and desires, run through most instances of human gullibility, the facts behind questions 2 and 5 include another most important factor—that of prestige, ; JUST as the children in the experiment efted above take the word of the teacher, the folk involved here take the word of others because of their standing in community, politics, busi- ness or even gangdom. Consider questions 3 and 4. We had to be a little gullible to believe that a Demo-< cartic victory in the last campaign would mean such a blight on America that “grass would grow in the streets of 100 cities.” Yet the as- sertion was taken seriously and was believed by many. Also, could any one but the successful, highly- placed Mr. Farley, chairman of the Democratic campaign committee—in the face of all the polls an¢' evidence—have induced men to bet that the Republicans wouldn't carry a single State? Yet men did so bet! Too oftery are we made gullible by our con- viction tha! because a man is rich, powerful Cnntinued on Fifteenth Page