Trust is the belief that another person will do what is expected and is built through repeated consistency. It brings with it a willingness for one party (the trustor) to become vulnerable to another party (the trustee), on the presumption that the trustee will act in ways that benefit the trustor. In addition, the trustor does not have control over the actions of the trustee; however, those actions influence the trustor's positive, neutral, or negative evaluations regarding the trustworthiness of the trustee. Scholars distinguish between generalized trust (also known as social trust), which is the extension of trust to a relatively large circle of unfamiliar others, and particularized trust, which is contingent on a specific situation or a specific relationship.
As the outcome of trust is uncertain and depends on what one chooses to believe, the trustor can only evaluate and develop expectations based on the trustee's actions. Such expectations are formed with a view to the motivations of the trustee, dependent on their characteristics, the situation, and their interaction. The trustor's risk perception of failure or harm to themselves stems from the uncertainty of the trustee's behavior.
In the social sciences, the subtleties of trust are a subject of ongoing research. In sociology and psychology, the degree to which one party trusts another is a measure of belief in the honesty, fairness, or benevolence of another party. The term "confidence" is more appropriate for a belief in the competence of the other party. A failure in trust may be forgiven more easily if it is interpreted as a failure of competence rather than a lack of benevolence or honesty. In economics, trust is often conceptualized as reliability in transactions. In all cases, trust is a heuristic decision rule, allowing a person to deal with complexities that would require unrealistic effort in rational reasoning.
Types Types of trust identified in academic literature include contractual trust, competence trust and goodwill trust. American lawyer Charles Fried speaks of "contractual trust" as a "humdrum" experience based on the voluntary acceptance of contractual obligations: for example, people keep appointments and undertake commercial transactions.Fried, Charles (1981), Contract as Promise: A Theory of Contractual Obligation, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, quoted in Markovits, D. (2015), Theories of the Common Law of Contracts, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, accessed 2 January 2024 "Competence trust" can be defined as "a belief in the other's ability to do the job or complete a task"; this term is applied, for example, in relation to cultural competence in healthcare.Isaacs, S. et al., Competence trust among providers as fundamental to a culturally competent primary healthcare system for immigrant families, Cambridge Core, published 13 July 2012, accessed 2 January 2024 In working relationships, "goodwill trust" has been described as "trust regarding the benevolence and integrity of [a] counterpart". Four types of social trust are recognized: Generalized trust, or a dispositional trait geared towards trusting others, is an important form of trust in modern society, which involves much social interaction with strangers. Schilke et al. refer to generalized and particularized trust (trust exhibited in a specific situation or a specific relationship) as two significant research streams in the sociology of trust. Out-group trust is the trust a person has in members of a different group. This could be members of a different ethnic group, or citizens of a different country, for example. In-group trust is placed in members of one's own group. Trust in neighbors considers the relationships between people with a common residential environment.
Sociology
Sociology claims trust is one of several social constructs; an element of the social reality. Other constructs frequently discussed together with trust include control, confidence, risk, meaning and power. Trust is attributable to relationships between social actors, both individuals and groups (social systems). Sociology is concerned with the position and role of trust in social systems. Interest in trust has grown significantly since the early 1980s, from the early works of Luhmann, Barber, and Giddens (see Sztompka for a more detailed overview). This growth of interest in trust has been stimulated by ongoing changes in society, known as late modernity and post-modernity.
Sviatoslav contended that society needs trust because it increasingly finds itself operating at the edge between confidence in what is known from everyday experience and contingency of new possibilities. Without trust, one should always consider all contingent possibilities, leading to paralysis by analysis. Trust acts as a decisional heuristic, allowing the decision-maker to overcome bounded rationality and process what would otherwise be an excessively complex situation. Trust can be seen as a bet on one of many contingent futures, specifically, the one that appears to deliver the greatest benefits. Once the bet is decided (i.e. trust is granted), the trustor suspends his or her disbelief, and the possibility of a negative course of action is not considered at all. Hence trust acts as a reducing agent of social complexity, allowing for cooperation.
Sociology tends to focus on two distinct views: the macro view of social systems, and a micro view of individual social actors (where it borders with social psychology). Views on trust follow this dichotomy. On one side, the systemic role of trust can be discussed with a certain disregard to the psychological complexity underpinning individual trust. The behavioral approach to trust is usually assumed while actions of social actors are measurable, allowing for statistical modelling of trust. This systemic approach can be contrasted with studies on social actors and their decision-making process, in anticipation that understanding of such a process will explain (and allow to model) the emergence of trust.
Sociology acknowledges that the contingency of the future creates a dependency between social actors and, specifically, that the trustor becomes dependent on the trustee. Trust is seen as one of the possible methods to resolve such a dependency, being an attractive alternative to control. Trust is valuable if the trustee is much more powerful than the trustor, yet the trustor is under social obligation to support the trustee. Reprinted in:
Modern information technologies have not only facilitated the transition to a post-modern society but have also challenged traditional views on trust. Information systems research has identified that people have come to trust in technology via two primary constructs: The first consists of human-like constructs, including benevolence, honesty, and competence, whilst the second employs system-like constructs, such as usefulness, reliability, and functionality. The discussion surrounding the relationship between information technologies and trust is still in progress as research remains in its infant stages.
High- and low-trust societies
Influence of ethnic diversity Several dozen studies have examined the impact of ethnic diversity on social trust. Research published in the Annual Review of Political Science concluded that there were three key debates on the subject:
Why does ethnic diversity modestly reduce social trust? Can contact reduce the negative association between ethnic diversity and social trust? Is ethnic diversity a stand-in for social disadvantage?
The review's meta-analysis of 87 studies showed a consistent, though modest, negative relationship between ethnic diversity and social trust. Ethnic diversity has the strongest negative impact on neighbor trust, in-group trust, and generalized trust. It did not appear to have a significant impact on out-group trust. The authors present a warning about the modest size of the effect, stating, "However, the rather modest size of the [overall negative relationship] implies that apocalyptic claims regarding the severe threat of ethnic diversity for social trust in contemporary societies are exaggerated."
Psychology
In psychology, trust is believing that the trusted person will do what is expected. According to the psychoanalyst Erik Erikson, development of basic trust is the first state of psychosocial development occurring, or failing, during the first two years of life. Success results in feelings of security and optimism, while failure leads towards an orientation of insecurity and mistrust possibly resulting in attachment disorders. A person's dispositional tendency to trust others can be considered a personality trait and as such is one of the strongest predictors of subjective well-being. Trust increases subjective well-being because it enhances the quality of one's interpersonal relationships; happy people are skilled at fostering good relationships.
Trust is integral to the idea of social influence: it is easier to influence or persuade someone who is trusting. The notion of trust is increasingly adopted to predict acceptance of behaviors by others, institutions (e.g. government agencies), and objects such as machines. Yet once again, perceptions of honesty, competence and value similarity (slightly similar to benevolence) are essential.
There are three forms of trust commonly studied in psychology: Trust is being vulnerable to someone even when they are trustworthy. Trustworthiness are the characteristics or behaviors of one person that inspire positive expectations in another person. Trust propensity is the tendency to make oneself vulnerable to others in general. Research suggests that this general tendency can change over time in response to key life events. These three factors can counteract each other. Sometimes, trust can be reduced by being more transparent about failed expectation, which increases trustworthiness but may reduce trust.
Once trust is lost by violation of some combination of these three determinants, it is very hard to regain. There is asymmetry in the building versus destruction of trust.
Research has been conducted into the social implications of trust, for instance:
Barbara Misztal attempted to combine all notions of trust. She described three functions of trust: it makes social life predictable, it creates a sense of community, and it makes it easier for people to work together. In the context of sexual trust, Riki Robbins describes four stages. These consist of perfect trust, damaged trust, devastated trust, and restored trust. In the context of information theory, Ed Gerck social functions such as power, surveillance, and accountability. From a social identity perspective, the propensity to trust strangers (see in-group favoritism) arises from the mutual knowledge of a shared group membership, stereotypes, or the need to maintain the group's positive distinctiveness. Despite the centrality of trust to the positive functioning of people and relationships, very little is known about how and why trust evolves, is maintained, and is destroyed.