Do you trust? Whom do you trust? When do you trust?

Abstract

We try to provide a broader view on the factors that influence the decision to trust and honor trust. Using the “Trust Game” as our experimental paradigm, we consider three classes of factors that may be related to trust issues. The first one considers individual differences with regard to the probability to trust others (and honor trust of others), or disposition factors. Which kinds of people are more likely to trust? Second, we examine who is more likely to be trusted (anticipation factors), focusing on the appearance of the person who is to be trusted. And third, we analyze the circumstances under which trust is more likely to evolve (situation factors). Trusting is easy if there is not much at stake, but if the stakes and the risk increase, then how does that affect the willingness to trust? In short, we consider the decision to trust to be dependent on who you are, on who it is that has to be trusted, and on the specific situation. Moreover, we analyze which of these three classes is more important, using a set of experiments designed to measure the impact of disposition, anticipation, and situation factors. The data suggest that disposition factors play a minor role; the differences between people with regard to their likelihood to trust are relatively small. Anticipation factors, operationalized by varying alter's appearance, had a larger but somewhat paradoxical effect. Those with a trustworthy appearance are indeed trusted more easily, but they do not actually behave more trustworthy. By far the strongest influences were found among the situation factors. Both the payoffs and the structure of the game have a large impact on trust and honoring trust.

Citation

Snijders, C. and Keren, G. (2001), "Do you trust? Whom do you trust? When do you trust?", Advances in Group Processes (Advances in Group Processes, Vol. 18), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 129-160. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0882-6145(01)18006-9