Hello TIPSland,I'm glad to see TIPS is back (or was it just me?). The following post was rejected for three days and I got no TIPS mail during that time, so I am reposting. I hope this doesn't turn out to be a repeat. Apologies in advance if it does:
As America continues to marvel at the scoundrel Bernie Madoff became, I have also been thinking his actions might be interesting to discuss in social psychology classes. (First, I imagine you'll have to give a thumbnail sketch of who he is and what he did, since some students may not even be aware of this current news story.) So here's the social psychology connection: When studying "kinship selection" and other kinship concepts, how interesting it is that Bernie engaged largely in "affinity fraud." According to the U.S. SEC (http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/affinity.htm): "Affinity fraud refers to investment scams that prey upon members of identifiable groups, such as religious or ethnic communities, the elderly, or professional groups. The fraudsters who promote affinity scams frequently are - or pretend to be - members of the group." Bernie's most lucrative target was his fellow Jews. He met many at country clubs, and it's likely that the "if it's too good to be true" maxim was overlooked. Did he appear to be more trustworthy because people are more likely to trust "one of their own"? Wikipedia lists ten other examples of affinity fraud, so if you do consider covering this as an interesting opposite to the kinship selection concept, you might want to read examples of other cases of affinity fraud. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affinity_fraud The first is a tax fraud known as the "slavery reparations scam," which offers a $5000 check to African Americans born before 1928, in exchange for a nifty little bit of information: the applicant's Social Security number. I wasn't able to find a single article in psychology journals on this topic, but still find it worth a mention in class. Beth Benoit Granite State College Plymouth State University New Hampshire --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
