The Libet Experiments and Its Implications for Scam Victims and Victimization

The Libet Experiments and the Neurology of Decision-Making: An Insight into Why People Fall for Scams and Become Scam Victims

Principal Category: Scam Victim Neurology & Psychology

Authors:
•  Vianey Gonzalez B.Sc(Psych) – Licensed Psychologist Specialty in Crime Victim Trauma Therapy, Neuropsychologist, Certified Deception Professional, Psychology Advisory Panel & Director of the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc.
•  Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. – Anthropologist, Scientist, Director of the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc.

The Libet Experiments, conducted by neuroscientist Benjamin Libet in the 1980s, explored the timing of unconscious brain activity and conscious decision-making, revealing that unconscious neural processes initiate actions before conscious awareness occurs. This discovery, often cited in debates about free will, has profound implications for understanding why individuals fall for scams. Scammers exploit the neurological gap between unconscious decision-making and conscious awareness, leveraging emotional triggers, cognitive biases, and time constraints to manipulate victims into impulsive actions. By examining how the Libet Effect relates to various types of scams—including romance, cryptocurrency, phishing, and phone scams—this article illustrates the vulnerabilities inherent in human decision-making. Strategies for mitigating these vulnerabilities, such as delaying decisions, fostering scam awareness, building emotional resilience, leveraging technology, and emphasizing verification practices, are critical for reducing susceptibility to fraud. Understanding the role of unconscious processes in decision-making highlights the need for proactive measures to protect individuals from increasingly sophisticated scam tactics.

The Libet Experiments and the Neurology of Decision-Making: An Insight into Why People Fall for Scams and Become Scam Victims

What Were the Libet Experiments?

The Libet Experiments, conducted by neuroscientist Benjamin Libet in the 1980s, were a series of studies that aimed to investigate the timing of conscious awareness of a decision to act compared to the neural activity preceding that decision, essentially asking whether our conscious will initiates an action or if unconscious brain processes start the action first; these experiments are often interpreted as suggesting that unconscious brain activity begins before a person consciously decides to move, potentially challenging the idea of free will as we typically understand it.

Overview

The Libet Experiments were a groundbreaking series of studies that examined the timing of conscious decision-making. Libet and his team discovered that:

Unconscious Decisions Precede Awareness: Electrical activity in the brain, called the readiness potential, occurs before an individual becomes consciously aware of deciding to act.

Delay in Awareness: The experiments showed a gap of approximately 200-500 milliseconds between the brain initiating an action and the person’s conscious awareness of deciding to perform that action.

This finding challenged the traditional notion of free will, suggesting that decisions may be initiated unconsciously before the individual consciously “chooses” to act.

Key points about the Libet Experiments:

Method: Participants were asked to flex their wrist at a random time while watching a clock-like dot on a screen, noting the position of the dot when they first felt the urge to move. Researchers recorded brain activity using EEG to detect the “readiness potential” (RP), a neural signal that builds up before a movement.

Findings: The study found that the RP began to build up in the brain several hundred milliseconds before the participant consciously reported the decision to move, indicating that unconscious neural processes may initiate the action before conscious awareness of the intention to move.

Implications: This finding has been interpreted by some as evidence that conscious will is not the primary cause of our actions, raising questions about the nature of free will.

Criticisms of the Libet Experiments:

Subjective Timing: Critics argue that it’s difficult to accurately report the precise moment of conscious intention due to the subjective nature of time perception.

Task Limitations: The simple nature of the task (a single, pre-determined action) might not generalize to more complex decision-making situations.

Interpretation Bias: The interpretation of the results as evidence against free will is debated, with some arguing that the conscious mind still plays a role in vetoing actions even if the initial decision is unconscious.

Understanding Why People Fall for Scams

The ability of scammers to manipulate individuals into parting with their money, trust, or personal information has puzzled psychologists, neurologists, and law enforcement for years. Understanding why people fall for scams requires examining the decision-making processes in the human brain. The Libet Experiments, conducted in the 1980s by neuroscientist Benjamin Libet, provide insights into the neurological underpinnings of human behavior that make individuals susceptible to various forms of scams. By exploring how these experiments relate to scam victimization, we can better understand the cognitive vulnerabilities that scammers exploit.

The Role of Unconscious Processes in Decision-Making

The Libet Experiments fundamentally altered our understanding of human decision-making by demonstrating that unconscious neural activity precedes conscious awareness of a decision. This finding suggests that much of what we perceive as deliberate, intentional choice is actually initiated by unconscious processes. These processes include deeply ingrained biases, emotional responses, and cognitive shortcuts (heuristics) that operate beneath our awareness, influencing behavior long before rational thought has a chance to intervene.

The Unconscious as a Driving Force

Unconscious processes play a pivotal role in decision-making, especially in high-stakes or emotionally charged situations. The brain relies on these automatic systems to process information quickly, often bypassing the slower, deliberate reasoning pathways. While this mechanism is beneficial for making rapid decisions in everyday life, it also creates vulnerabilities that scammers can exploit. By appealing to emotions like fear, greed, or urgency, scammers tap into these unconscious drivers, compelling victims to act impulsively and irrationally.

Exploiting Biases and Heuristics

Biases and heuristics are mental shortcuts that help simplify complex decisions but can also lead to errors in judgment. For instance:

Confirmation Bias: Victims unconsciously focus on information that supports the scammer’s narrative while ignoring red flags.

Authority Bias: Scammers posing as authoritative figures, such as government officials or company representatives, trigger automatic compliance without deeper scrutiny.

Scarcity Heuristic: The illusion of limited opportunities, such as “last chance” offers, prompts rushed decisions, bypassing the critical evaluation process.

Scammers craft their approaches to align with these unconscious tendencies, ensuring that their targets’ initial reactions are instinctive rather than reflective.

Learn more about Cognitive Biases here.

Emotional Triggers and Unconscious Responses

Emotions play a significant role in unconscious decision-making, often overpowering logical analysis. Scammers use this to their advantage by designing scenarios that elicit strong emotional responses:

Fear: Threats of legal action or financial loss, as seen in tax scams or phishing schemes, provoke anxiety that overrides rational thinking.

Greed: Promises of wealth or exclusive opportunities, such as lottery scams or investment frauds, activate reward systems in the brain, clouding skepticism.

Empathy: Romance scammers and fake charities evoke compassion, compelling victims to act altruistically without verifying the legitimacy of the request.

These emotional triggers are powerful because they engage the brain’s automatic pathways, which are faster and more immediate than the circuits responsible for logical reasoning.

Scammers’ Mastery of Timing

The Libet Experiments reveal a brief but critical gap between unconscious neural activity and conscious awareness. Scammers exploit this temporal lag by applying pressure to make immediate decisions. Techniques such as creating a sense of urgency or using fast-paced communication keep victims from pausing to think critically. By the time a victim becomes consciously aware of their doubts, they may have already complied with the scammer’s demands.

Implications for Scam Prevention

Understanding the role of unconscious processes in decision-making underscores why awareness and deliberate action are essential for scam prevention. Education about these automatic responses can help individuals recognize when their emotions or biases are being manipulated. Building habits such as pausing before acting, verifying claims independently, and consulting trusted sources can create a buffer between unconscious impulses and conscious decisions.

By acknowledging the influence of unconscious processes, we can better equip individuals to resist scams and make informed, deliberate choices, even in high-pressure or emotionally charged situations. The Libet Experiments highlight the importance of slowing down and engaging rational thought to counteract the automatic behaviors that scammers seek to exploit.

How the Libet Effect Relates to Different Types of Scams

Below, we explore how the insights from the Libet Experiments help explain victim susceptibility to various types of scams.

Romance Scams

In romance scams, scammers manipulate emotional triggers to build trust and create an illusion of intimacy.

Emotional Priming: The Libet findings suggest that unconscious emotional responses can influence decisions before rational thought intervenes. When a scammer sends a heartfelt message or shares fabricated struggles, the victim’s brain processes the emotional appeal unconsciously, making them more likely to empathize and respond positively before considering the logical inconsistencies.

Delayed Rational Awareness: Victims may unconsciously decide to send money or share personal details, justifying their actions later with rationalizations such as, “I was helping someone I care about.”

Cryptocurrency Investment and Pig Butchering Scams

These scams rely on urgency and the promise of high returns to manipulate victims into making impulsive financial decisions.

Temporal Compression of Decisions: The Libet effect shows that quick, high-pressure situations can exploit unconscious biases, such as fear of missing out (FOMO). Scammers create time-sensitive opportunities that compel victims to act before their conscious mind has fully processed the risks.

Reward System Manipulation: Scammers tap into the brain’s reward system, triggering unconscious calculations of potential gain, which override risk assessments.

Lottery and Prize Scams

Lottery scams involve promises of winnings contingent on payment of fees or personal information.

Automatic Activation of Hope and Reward: The promise of winning a large sum triggers the brain’s reward anticipation system unconsciously. Victims “decide” to engage with the scam before rationally evaluating the improbability of the claim.

Delay in Critical Thinking: By the time the victim considers the logical flaws in the scam, the unconscious decision to engage has already set the stage for continued interaction.

Phishing Scams

Phishing scams exploit cognitive shortcuts by mimicking legitimate entities, such as banks or government agencies.

Familiarity Bias: Scammers design emails or messages to appear familiar, triggering an automatic trust response. The readiness potential activates the “decision to trust” unconsciously, and victims click links or provide information before fully assessing authenticity.

Urgency Exploitation: The Libet findings highlight how urgency cues (e.g., “Your account will be locked in 24 hours”) bypass deliberate thought, pushing victims to act reflexively.

Phone Scams

Phone scams, such as those involving fake tech support or IRS calls, use direct interpersonal pressure to manipulate victims.

Authority Bias and Unconscious Compliance: When scammers impersonate authoritative figures, such as law enforcement or technical experts, the unconscious brain activates compliance tendencies. Victims “decide” to cooperate instinctively, and this decision is justified consciously after the fact.

Rapid Decision-Making: The live nature of phone interactions reduces the time available for conscious deliberation, amplifying the Libet effect.

Learn more about Cognitive Biases here.

Why the Libet Effect Leaves Us Vulnerable to Scams

Several factors derived from the Libet Experiments contribute to scam susceptibility.

Overview:

Emotional Overrides: Emotional appeals activate unconscious processes that drive decisions before critical thinking intervenes.

Cognitive Shortcuts: Heuristics like trust in authority, fear of loss, and reward anticipation operate below the level of conscious awareness.

Temporal Constraints: Scammers exploit the short time window between unconscious decision-making and conscious awareness, pressuring victims to act quickly.

The Libet Experiments reveal how unconscious neural processes precede conscious decision-making, highlighting a critical vulnerability: we often act on decisions that our brains have already initiated before we are fully aware of them. Scammers exploit this phenomenon by crafting scenarios that manipulate our unconscious drives, bypassing rational thought. Let’s explore the specific mechanisms derived from the Libet Effect that leave us particularly susceptible to scams.

Emotional Overrides: When Emotions Hijack Reason

Emotional appeals are one of the most powerful tools in a scammer’s arsenal. The Libet Effect suggests that our initial emotional reactions occur before conscious reasoning kicks in, making us prone to impulsive decisions driven by feelings rather than facts. Scammers exploit this automatic emotional response by creating narratives that elicit fear, urgency, greed, or empathy.

For example:

Romance Scams: Scammers build trust and emotional connections over time, appealing to the victim’s desire for love and companionship. When a fabricated crisis arises, such as an urgent need for money, the victim’s emotional attachment overrides their critical thinking.

Phishing Scams: Emails that claim your account has been compromised evoke fear and urgency, triggering a panicked response to “fix” the issue immediately. This emotional state bypasses logical analysis of the email’s legitimacy.

By engaging emotions first, scammers prevent their victims from pausing to evaluate the situation critically, leaving them vulnerable to manipulation.

Cognitive Shortcuts: Heuristics and Unconscious Cognitive Biases

The brain relies on heuristics—mental shortcuts—to process information quickly, often at the expense of thorough analysis. While heuristics are essential for everyday decision-making, scammers exploit these unconscious biases to manipulate victims. The Libet Effect demonstrates how these shortcuts are activated automatically, guiding behavior before conscious reasoning can intervene.

Common cognitive bias shortcuts targeted by scammers include:

Trust in Authority: Scammers impersonate trusted figures, such as government officials, tech support agents, or bank representatives, to lend legitimacy to their claims. Victims unconsciously defer to perceived authority without questioning its authenticity.

Fear of Loss: The fear of losing money, opportunities, or safety activates survival instincts, leading to hasty decisions. Lottery scams, for instance, warn victims of a deadline to claim their “winnings,” pushing them to act without verification.

Reward Anticipation: Scammers appeal to the brain’s reward system, offering unrealistic promises of wealth, success, or love. This anticipation overrides skepticism, leading victims to believe in improbable outcomes.

These cognitive shortcuts operate beneath our conscious awareness, making them difficult to detect and control without deliberate effort.

Learn more about Cognitive Biases here.

Temporal Constraints: Exploiting the Decision-Making Gap

The Libet Experiments reveal a brief but critical time window between the brain’s initiation of a decision and our conscious awareness of it. Scammers capitalize on this temporal gap by creating high-pressure scenarios that demand immediate action, leaving little room for reflection or analysis.

Scam tactics exploiting temporal constraints include:

Urgent Deadlines: Phishing scams and investment frauds often include statements like “Act now or lose your opportunity!” This urgency prevents victims from taking the time to verify claims or seek advice.

Rapid-Fire Communication: Phone scammers keep victims on the line, using fast-paced conversations to overwhelm their ability to think critically. Victims are pressured to comply without pausing to question the situation.

Impulse Purchases: E-commerce scams rely on flash sales or limited-time offers to push victims into making impulsive purchases. The artificial scarcity creates a sense of urgency that bypasses rational evaluation.

By limiting the time available for conscious deliberation, scammers effectively trap their victims in a reactive state, increasing the likelihood of compliance.

Review

The Libet Effect underscores a fundamental vulnerability in human decision-making: much of our behavior is driven by unconscious processes that precede rational thought. Scammers exploit these processes through emotional manipulation, cognitive shortcuts, and time-sensitive tactics, leaving individuals vulnerable to deception.

Awareness of these mechanisms is the first step toward mitigating their impact. By understanding how our brains can be hijacked, we can take proactive measures—such as delaying decisions, questioning emotional triggers, and implementing verification practices—to protect ourselves from scams. The lessons of the Libet Experiments remind us that conscious awareness and deliberate action are our best defenses against those who seek to exploit our unconscious minds.

Overcoming the Libet Effect in Scam Prevention

Understanding the role of unconscious decision-making can help individuals and organizations develop strategies to counteract scam tactics.

Delay Decision-Making

Pause and reflect before acting: Even a brief delay can allow conscious awareness to catch up with unconscious impulses.

One of the most effective ways to counteract the unconscious processes revealed by the Libet Experiments is to introduce intentional delays in decision-making. Scammers thrive on creating urgency, exploiting the short gap between unconscious readiness potential and conscious awareness. By pausing and allowing time for reflective thought, individuals can give their rational minds the opportunity to engage and evaluate the situation critically. For example, if faced with a phishing email claiming urgent account suspension, waiting even five minutes before responding can create a crucial buffer, enabling the individual to identify red flags like suspicious email addresses or inconsistencies in the message.

Practical strategies include:

• • • Setting a personal rule to wait at least 24 hours before acting on any financial or emotionally charged request.
    • Establishing habits like consulting with a trusted friend or family member before making important decisions.
    • Using reminders or alerts to slow down impulsive actions, especially when dealing with unsolicited requests.

Increase Scam Awareness

Learn about common scams and their tactics: This can help them recognize triggers and override unconscious responses.

Knowledge is a powerful tool in preventing scam victimization. Awareness campaigns and education about common scam tactics can equip individuals with the cognitive frameworks needed to recognize and counteract manipulative techniques. The Libet Experiments highlight how unconscious biases can drive decision-making, but awareness of these biases can empower individuals to override them.

For instance:

• • • Learning about romance scams can help individuals recognize manipulative emotional appeals in online relationships, prompting skepticism rather than automatic trust.
    • Training programs on phishing scams can teach people to identify telltale signs like generic greetings, urgent language, and unfamiliar links.
    • Simulated exercises, such as phishing tests conducted by organizations, can help individuals practice spotting scams in a controlled environment.

By fostering a deeper understanding of how scams work, people can train their conscious minds to interrupt unconscious responses.

Strengthen Emotional Resilience

Building emotional resilience through mindfulness and stress management: This can reduce the likelihood of impulsive decisions driven by fear, greed, or empathy.

Emotional resilience is critical in combating the manipulation tactics used in scams. The Libet Experiments demonstrate how emotions can unconsciously influence decisions before logical reasoning occurs. Scammers often exploit fear, greed, or empathy to create a sense of urgency or obligation, making victims more likely to act impulsively. Strengthening emotional resilience helps individuals remain calm and composed, reducing the likelihood of making decisions based solely on emotional triggers.

Ways to build demonstrative resilience include:

• • • Mindfulness Practices: Techniques like meditation can help individuals become more aware of their emotional states and respond thoughtfully rather than reactively.
    • Stress Management: Developing healthy ways to cope with stress, such as exercise or journaling, can reduce vulnerability to fear-based manipulation.
    • Training in Emotional Regulation: Learning to recognize and manage emotions, such as anger or sadness, can prevent scammers from exploiting these feelings to their advantage.

A calm, measured approach to emotional triggers allows the conscious mind to engage and assess the situation more rationally.

Leverage Technology

AI-driven tools and phishing filters: These can act as external buffers, identifying scams before victims have the chance to engage.

Technology can play a significant role in counteracting scams by acting as an external check on unconscious impulses. AI-driven tools, phishing filters, and fraud detection systems are designed to identify scams before individuals even encounter them. By automating the detection process, technology reduces the reliance on human decision-making, which is prone to the unconscious biases and heuristics described in the Libet Experiments.

For example:

• • • Email platforms can use AI algorithms to flag and quarantine phishing attempts, ensuring users do not encounter suspicious links or messages.
    • Banking apps and payment platforms can incorporate fraud detection systems that pause or block suspicious transactions, giving users time to reconsider.
    • Browser extensions can warn users when they visit potentially fraudulent websites, protecting them from making impulsive decisions.

Technology acts as a safeguard, compensating for the human brain’s tendency to act before fully processing information.

Encourage Verification Practices

Urge individuals to independently verify claims or requests: Do this before taking action, allowing conscious reasoning to override unconscious biases.

Verification is a crucial step in overcoming the unconscious biases that drive scam victimization. The Libet Experiments emphasize how quickly the brain makes decisions without rational input. Verification practices force individuals to slow down, engage their critical thinking, and seek additional information before acting. Scammers rely on victims not taking the time to verify claims or requests, so this step directly undermines their strategies.

Practical verification methods include:

• • • Independent Research: Searching for information about the person, organization, or offer independently from the source of the communication. For example, checking official websites or calling known contact numbers.
    • Third-Party Confirmation: Consulting with a trusted individual, such as a family member, financial advisor, or IT professional, before proceeding with any transaction or sharing personal information.
    • Cross-Referencing Details: Comparing the information provided in the scam communication with known facts. For instance, verifying email addresses, phone numbers, or account details against official records.

By emphasizing the importance of verification, individuals can counteract the initial, unconscious readiness potential that scammers exploit, replacing impulsive decisions with informed actions.

Review

Each of these strategies—delaying decision-making, increasing scam awareness, strengthening emotional resilience, leveraging technology, and encouraging verification—addresses specific vulnerabilities identified by the Libet Experiments. By acknowledging the role of unconscious processes in decision-making, individuals can take proactive steps to protect themselves from scams. These techniques not only empower potential victims but also create a societal framework that makes it harder for scammers to succeed. In a world where manipulation tactics are becoming increasingly sophisticated, a combination of education, emotional strength, and technological tools is essential to safeguard individuals from exploitation.

Conclusion

The Libet Experiments shed light on the neurological processes that drive decision-making, revealing how unconscious impulses can lead to vulnerability in the face of scams. By understanding the mechanisms that scammers exploit, we can develop more effective strategies to protect individuals from falling victim to fraud. Awareness of the Libet effect emphasizes the importance of deliberate, reflective decision-making in an increasingly complex and deceptive world.

References

• SCARS Manual of Scam Psychology – https://scampsychology.org/scars-manual-of-scam-psychology-2024/
• SCARS Manual of Cognitive Biases – 2024  https://scampsychology.org/scars-manual-of-cognitive-biases-2024/
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Statement About Victim Blaming

Some of our articles discuss various aspects of victims. This is both about better understanding victims (the science of victimology) and their behaviors and psychology. This helps us to educate victims/survivors about why these crimes happened and to not blame themselves, better develop recovery programs, and to help victims avoid scams in the future. At times this may sound like blaming the victim, but it does not blame scam victims, we are simply explaining the hows and whys of the experience victims have.

These articles, about the Psychology of Scams or Victim Psychology – meaning that all humans have psychological or cognitive characteristics in common that can either be exploited or work against us – help us all to understand the unique challenges victims face before, during, and after scams, fraud, or cybercrimes. These sometimes talk about some of the vulnerabilities the scammers exploit. Victims rarely have control of them or are even aware of them, until something like a scam happens and then they can learn how their mind works and how to overcome these mechanisms.

Articles like these help victims and others understand these processes and how to help prevent them from being exploited again or to help them recover more easily by understanding their post-scam behaviors. Learn more about the Psychology of Scams at www.ScamPsychology.org

Psychology Disclaimer:

All articles about psychology, neurology, and the human brain on this website are for information & education only

The information provided in these articles is intended for educational and self-help purposes only and should not be construed as a substitute for professional therapy or counseling.

While any self-help techniques outlined herein may be beneficial for scam victims seeking to recover from their experience and move towards recovery, it is important to consult with a qualified mental health professional before initiating any course of action. Each individual’s experience and needs are unique, and what works for one person may not be suitable for another.

Additionally, any approach may not be appropriate for individuals with certain pre-existing mental health conditions or trauma histories. It is advisable to seek guidance from a licensed therapist or counselor who can provide personalized support, guidance, and treatment tailored to your specific needs.

If you are experiencing significant distress or emotional difficulties related to a scam or other traumatic event, please consult your doctor or mental health provider for appropriate care and support.

Also, please read our SCARS Institute Statement About Professional Care for Scam Victims – here

If you are in crisis, feeling desperate, or in despair please call 988 or your local crisis hotline.

A Note About Labeling!

We often use the term ‘scam victim’ in our articles, but this is a convenience to help those searching for information in search engines like Google. It is just a convenience and has no deeper meaning. If you have come through such an experience, YOU are a Survivor! It was not your fault. You are not alone! Axios!

Statement About Victim Blaming

Some of our articles discuss various aspects of victims. This is both about better understanding victims (the science of victimology) and their behaviors and psychology. This helps us to educate victims/survivors about why these crimes happened and to not blame themselves, better develop recovery programs, and to help victims avoid scams in the future. At times this may sound like blaming the victim, but it does not blame scam victims, we are simply explaining the hows and whys of the experience victims have.

These articles, about the Psychology of Scams or Victim Psychology – meaning that all humans have psychological or cognitive characteristics in common that can either be exploited or work against us – help us all to understand the unique challenges victims face before, during, and after scams, fraud, or cybercrimes. These sometimes talk about some of the vulnerabilities the scammers exploit. Victims rarely have control of them or are even aware of them, until something like a scam happens and then they can learn how their mind works and how to overcome these mechanisms.

Articles like these help victims and others understand these processes and how to help prevent them from being exploited again or to help them recover more easily by understanding their post-scam behaviors. Learn more about the Psychology of Scams at www.ScamPsychology.org

Psychology Disclaimer:

All articles about psychology, neurology, and the human brain on this website are for information & education only

The information provided in these articles is intended for educational and self-help purposes only and should not be construed as a substitute for professional therapy or counseling.

While any self-help techniques outlined herein may be beneficial for scam victims seeking to recover from their experience and move towards recovery, it is important to consult with a qualified mental health professional before initiating any course of action. Each individual’s experience and needs are unique, and what works for one person may not be suitable for another.

Additionally, any approach may not be appropriate for individuals with certain pre-existing mental health conditions or trauma histories. It is advisable to seek guidance from a licensed therapist or counselor who can provide personalized support, guidance, and treatment tailored to your specific needs.

If you are experiencing significant distress or emotional difficulties related to a scam or other traumatic event, please consult your doctor or mental health provider for appropriate care and support.

Also, please read our SCARS Institute Statement About Professional Care for Scam Victims – here

If you are in crisis, feeling desperate, or in despair please call 988 or your local crisis hotline.

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