Predicting susceptibility to social influence in phishing emails

Key finding

In a role-play study of 985 people, emails using consistency and reciprocity were most effective while scarcity and social proof were least effective. People who scored as susceptible to a given principle were usually more fooled by emails using it, and age, computer time, social-proof susceptibility and impulsivity predicted detection ability.

Why it matters

Supports profiling individuals by which tactics they are vulnerable to (psychographics) rather than treating all users alike.

Informs

• Questions requests that lean on authority context
• Confirms identity before helping supports
• Discounts 'everyone else already did it' claims challenges

Cite

Parsons, K., Butavicius, M., Delfabbro, P., & Lillie, M. (2019). Predicting susceptibility to social influence in phishing emails. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2019.02.007