Whats the difference between naive and gullible?

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bonez
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16 Feb 2009, 9:54 pm

Are they the same thing? are they different? if so, can someone be both?



elderwanda
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16 Feb 2009, 10:43 pm

Gullible means "easily duped or cheated".

Naive means "deficient in worldly wisdom or informed judgement".

That's according to Merriam-Webster.

So, gullible and naive aren't exactly the same, but they kind of go hand in hand.



ThisUserNameIsTaken
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16 Feb 2009, 10:57 pm

Being naive will probably make you gullible. Naive is basically when you lack knowledge about something. Gullible is when you're easily tricked or lied to. So being naive will lead you to being more easily tricked, although it's certainly possible to be very knowledgeable but still gullible.



Tahitiii
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16 Feb 2009, 11:03 pm

I think "naive" is associated with youth and/or inexperience, and is more understandable,
while "gullible" is someone who has been around and should know better, but doesn't.



16 Feb 2009, 11:30 pm

I remember there was a thread about this like in November I think. Well naive means not understanding, not knowing about something, and I think it also means believing something that isn't true and gullibility is being tricked or fooled into doing something.

Falling for a scam would be gullibility.
I wonder if falling for someone online being a movie star when it turns out it was a 15 year old girl who is a fan of this person would be gullible or naive. I mean if the 15 year old tricked the person because she told the grown up she was the movie star for real, would that mean the grown up was gullible? She did trick the person.


So I am more naive, not gullible. I don't fall for scams or those As seen on TV ads, did one time but I was 17 then. I don't give money to people over the internet. I don't give homeless people money or people who beg for it. Heck if someone said they were a celebrity, I wouldn't beleive them but I wouldn't accuse them of lying. I just keep it to myself. I mean if I were a famous actress, I wouldn't be saying who I am and what I do for my job or else my inbox would be flooded with PMs and I would be getting tons of IMs if I had my screen names posted all over. But then again there are dumb asses who would also say "I don't believe you" so maybe my inbox wouldn't get flooded after all.