Gender pairing bias in trustworthiness

We experimentally examine whether partner's gender information influences trust and trustworthiness behavior. We conduct an experiment where subjects make their choices, first with a completely unknown partner and then a partner of known gender (or vice versa). We find limited influence for gender information on trust behavior. Conversely, the results show a strong gender interaction with regard to trustworthiness both at the aggregate and individual levels. The proportion returned is significantly larger when the trustor and the trustee are of the same gender, bringing into light a gender pairing bias in trustworthiness.     

Adolescents gradually improve at detecting trustworthiness from the facial features of unknown adults

People can (to some extent) detect trustworthiness from the facial features of social partners, and populations which underperform at this task are at a greater risk of abuse. Here we focus on situations in which adolescents make a decision whether to trust an unknown adult. Adolescents aged 13–18 (N = 540) played a trust game, in which they made decisions whether to trust unknown adults based on their picture. We show that trusting decisions become increasingly accurate with age, from a small effect size at age 13 to an effect size 2.5 times larger at age 18. We consider the implications of this result for the development of prosociality and the possible mechanisms underlying the development of trustworthiness detection from faces.     

Race and the beauty premium: Mechanical Turk workers’ evaluations of Twitter accounts

ABSTRACT

Race, gender, and physical attractiveness strongly affect perceptions of trustworthiness and subsequent face-to-face interactions. This study examines how social media users’ perceived gender, race, and physical attractiveness can impact their standing online. We test these broad hypotheses by having Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) workers evaluate a sample of 816 Twitter accounts. Our results show a ‘beauty premium,’ where MTurk workers say they are more likely to follow Twitter accounts with attractive pro?le photos, and attractive photos are positively associated with evaluations of trust. However, very attractive Black male and female Twitter accounts are associated with lower evaluations of trust compared to their White counterparts. These findings suggest that social media users’ social characteristics, perceived from their username or profile image, can replicate offline inequality online.     

TRUST,TRUSTWORTHINESS, AND BUSINESS SUCCESS: LAB AND FIELD FINDINGS FROM ENTREPRENEURS

This article contributes to the literature on trust and small businesses in developing countries by linking the level of trust in others that entrepreneurs display in a lab setting to sales data outside of the lab. The results show a robust positive correlation between trust and business success (with sales used as a measure of success): The successful entrepreneurs invested in trust more than the less successful ones did. In the lab, trusting in others is highly profitable, with successful entrepreneurs doing so to the degree required to maximize revenue. However, I found no association between trustworthiness and business success. (JEL O17, L26, C91)     

What is Trust? A Multidisciplinary Review,Critique, and Synthesis

Despite decades of interdisciplinary research on trust, the literature remains fragmented and balkanized with little consensus regarding its origins. This review documents how this came to be and attempts to offer a solution. Specifically, it evaluates issues of conceptualization found in the trust literature. I recommend that we move away from varieties of trust – multidimensional conceptualizations of trust – and toward a single trust concept built around four essential properties: actor A's beliefs, actor B's trustworthiness, the matter(s) at hand, and unknown outcomes. I finish the article by proposing a synthetic structural‐cognitive theoretical framework for investigating the causes and consequences of trust in everyday life.     

What happens if you single out? An experiment

We present an experiment investigating the effects of singling out an individual on trust and trustworthiness. We find that (a) trustworthiness falls if there is a singled out subject; (b) non-singled out subjects discriminate against the singled out subject when they are not responsible of the distinct status of this person; (c) under a negative frame, the singled out subject returns significantly less; (d) under a positive frame, the singled out subject behaves bimodally, either selecting very low or very high return rates. Overall, singling out induces a negligible effect on trust but is potentially disruptive for trustworthiness.     

TRUST,RECIPROCITY, AND RULES

Many economic interactions rely on trust and trust violations can have serious economic consequences. Simple minimum standard rules are attractive because they prevent egregious trust violations. However, they may undermine more trusting and reciprocal (trustworthy) behavior that otherwise would have occurred, leading to worse outcomes. In an experimental trust game, we test the efficacy of exogenously imposed minimum standard rules. Rules damage trust and reciprocity, reducing economic welfare. While sufficiently restrictive rules restore welfare, trust and reciprocity never return. Results indicate that participants are concerned about payoffs while also using the game to learn about trust and trustworthiness of others. (JEL C72, C90, D63, D64, L51)     

Before crisis: How near-miss affects organizational trust and industry transference in emerging industries

A near-miss, such as a narrowly avoided collision between vehicles, evades a full-scale accident but can generate media attention that threatens trust. In emerging industries, the effects of near-miss may extend beyond organizational boundaries and influence trust in the industry and technology. This study empirically tests these assertions by examining how media reports of near-miss affect organizational trustworthiness and how trust repair strategies after a near-miss influence organizational and industry trust and technology acceptance in the emerging commercial industry of unmanned aircraft. Notwithstanding parallels to paracrisis, near-miss communication is understudied in public relations research. Further, studies of trust in the context of crisis are recent (see Brühl et al., 2018; Fuoli et al., 2017), and have produced unexpected results that warrant continued exploration in public relations. Underpinned by attribution theory, this study adopts a 2 (near-miss cause: external, low controllability; internal, high controllability) x 3 (trust repair strategy delivered via news story: denial, excuse, apology) scenario-based experiment. This study found that near-miss reduced organizational trustworthiness regardless of whether the event was controllable or not, indicating that when it comes to trust perceptions, near-miss can operate similarly to crisis. Further, apology was the only strategy that arrested a fall in organizational trustworthiness. The study signaled a trust transfer effect where organizational trust influenced industry trust, which led to the acceptance of unmanned aircraft technology. In the context of emerging industries, these findings have implications for organizations that experience near-miss, highlighting the potential for a standardized initial strategy to acknowledge a reduction in trust in order to support trust beyond the organization.     

Sex differences in trust and trustworthiness: A meta-analysis of the trust game and the gift-exchange game

We present a meta-analytic review of the literature on sex differences in the trust game (174 effect sizes) and the related gift-exchange game (35 effect sizes). Based on parental investment theory and social role theory we expected men to be more trusting and women to be more trustworthy. Indeed, men were more trusting in the trust game (g = 0.22), yet we found no significant sex difference in trust in the gift-exchange game (g = 0.15). Regarding trustworthiness, we found no significant sex difference in the trust game (g = −0.04), and we found men, not women, to be more trustworthy in the gift-exchange game (g = 0.33). These results suggest that men send more money than women do when their money is going to be multiplied, thereby creating an efficiency gain. This so-called “male multiplier effect” may be explained by a stronger psychological tendency in men to acquire resources.     

The structure of guanxi: Resolving problems of network assurance

Two widespread assumptions concerning networks, including guanxi networks, are that they function in terms of trust relations and that their structure is dyadic. This article subjects both assumptions to critical assessment and proposes alternative formulations. When the distinctions between trust and trustworthiness and between trust and assurance are made, then broader understandings of guanxi relationships emerge. The article shows that the assurance mechanism of guanxi is public exposure of transgressions against network norms, leading to the transgressor’s loss of face (mianzi). The necessity of third-party intervention of this type, typically but not exclusively through gossip, indicates the triadic rather than dyadic structure of guanxi relationships when sanction of reputation is included in the conceptualization of guanxi. Changes in guanxi during economic transition in China, from strong-to weaker-tie associations, require careful consideration of the changing nature of the mechanisms of face-loss.     

Trust responsiveness. On the dynamics of fiduciary interactions

Trust and trustworthiness are key elements, both at the micro and macro level, in sustaining the working of modern economies and their institutions. However, despite its centrality, trust continues to be considered as a “conceptual bumblebee”, it works in practice but not in theory. In particular, its behavioural rationale still represents a puzzle for traditional rational choice theory and game theory. In this paper “trust responsiveness”, an alternative explanatory principle that can account for trustful and trustworthy behaviour, is proposed. Such principle assumes that people can be motivated to behave trustworthily by trustful actions. The paper discusses the philosophical roots, the historical development, as well as the relational nature of this principle as well as its theoretical implications.     

Carry a big stick,or no stick at all: Punishment and endowment heterogeneity in the trust game

We investigate the effect of costly punishment in a trust game with endowment heterogeneity. Our findings indicate that the difference between the investor and the allocator’s initial endowments determines the effect of punishment on trust and trustworthiness. Punishment fosters trust only when the investor is wealthier than the allocator. Otherwise, punishment fails to promote trusting behavior. As for trustworthiness, the effect is just the opposite. The higher the difference between the investor and the allocator’s initial endowments, the less willing allocators are to pay back. We discuss the consistency of our findings with social preference models (like inequality aversion, reciprocity), the capacity of punishment (i.e., the deterrence hypothesis) and hidden costs of punishment (i.e., models of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation). Our results are hardly coherent with the first two (inequality aversion and deterrence), but roughly consistent with the latter.     

Holding on to history and each other: The unexpected LGBTQ legacy of a Czech Holocaust survivor and a Torah scroll from her hometown

Abstract

A Czech Holocaust survivor rescued by a Kindertransport in 1939; a long-lost Torah scroll, rediscovered in 1964, from a Jewish community wiped out in World War II; a German American lesbian who converted to Judaism in 2001. Three disparate stories, unfolding decades apart, converge in one memorable encounter, a Kristallnacht commemoration in Los Angeles organized by Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC), the world’s first LGBTQ synagogue, which leads to an enduring friendship and fresh insight into contemporary queer Jewish life. In this personal essay, longtime BCC member Sylvia Sukop interweaves history and autobiography to explore the beauty and power of ritual, the resonance of the “Choose life” passage in Deuteronomy that her congregation reads from its rescued Czech scroll every Yom Kippur, and the many forms that good deeds and survival can take. Progressive faith communities, the author suggests, and the traditions in which they are rooted make space to witness and affirm the fullness of one another’s humanity, bridging differences and fostering unexpected kinship in a brutally divisive world.     

Becoming a Trustworthy Profession: Doing Better Than Doing Good

Abstract

Social work is a relationship-based profession. For this reason, social work professionals need to be perceived as trustworthy by those with whom we work. This address outlines the nature and importance of trustworthiness and the specific issues the social work profession faces in relation to the question of trustworthiness. I argue that scandals in human services and faith-based institutions as well as pressures associated with new public management create further challenges to achieving trustworthiness. The address discusses how the profession can enhance its trustworthiness through increasing our capacity to articulate professional purpose, committing to professional excellence and to being courageous in speaking out about abuses of power that impact on the lives of people who use our services.     

Pilot study of a Web-based acceptance and commitment therapy intervention for university students to reduce academic procrastination

Objective: This pilot study pursued two aims. The first was to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of a Web-based acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) intervention to reduce academic procrastination among university students. The second aim was to test the effectiveness of the intervention on procrastination and committed actions. Participants: The sample was comprised of Canadian university students (n?=?36) that participated in the intervention between September 2016 and April 2017. Methods: The study relied on a prepost research design. Results: The intervention appears feasible, acceptable, and valuable to students. A significant reduction in procrastination and a significant improvement in committed actions were found between pre and postintervention. The effect sizes for these results were medium. Conclusions: Results provide preliminary support for the feasibility and effectiveness of a Web-based ACT intervention for academic procrastination. Results also highlight some aspects that need to be improved for further development.     

Virtuelle Arbeitsstrukturen durch Vertrauen,Zeitkompetenz und Prozessfeedback fördern

The article in the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation (GIO) deals with challenges of virtual structures of cooperation and of the team. It focuses especially on effects of personal characteristics, individual competence and team competence on team work and team performance in particular. Apparently, trust emerges in a different way in virtual working structures than in face-to-face teams. The discussion of the term ?trust‘ leads to a broader understanding of the development of trust and its importance, which helps to classify it in a process. Time competence is classified as particularly relevant to the emergence of trust, as teamwork becomes more flexible and team members take higher responsibilities than in face-to-face-teams. Control and responsibility move towards the members of the team, which in turn corresponds with a necessity for trust. Consequently, process feedback and transformational leadership can be identified as recommendable instruments for the enhancement of time competence and trust, which can lead to better team play. When taking a closer look at the role of leaders and team members in virtual environments, it becomes clear that reciprocity cannot be taken for granted in virtual teams. Differences in team structure as well as differing priorities in team goals throughout the team are similarly important as the frequency of contacts, the availability and reliability, or trustworthiness, of the individual team members.     

Risk mitigation and trust: Experimental Evidence from Jordan and the United States

This paper examines how trust and trustworthiness respond to lowering the principal’s risk in cultural settings focused on risk mitigation vs. risk prevention. We employ a binary-choice trust game and show that principals are confronted with a complex optimization problem: risk mitigation lowers the principal’s cost of betrayal but if agents are inequality averse or reciprocally minded, it can also increase its likelihood. This may be exacerbated in cultures not used to fostering trust by risk mitigation. Our experiments suggest that lowering risk only increases trust in the United States but not in Jordan. In both countries, trustworthiness decreases as the principal’s vulnerability decreases. We extend our findings to naturally occurring vulnerabilities in addition to the financial ones created in the laboratory.     

Role of Friendship,Trust, and Love in Strong Latino Marriages

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study focuses on the role that friendship, trust, and love play in the marriages of 25 Latino couples (50 individuals) who, through a semistructured interview, reported having strong marriages. Latino couples were interviewed using questions developed within the context of Latino culture. A model of how friendship, trust, and love contribute to strong marriages is proposed. Suggestions of how these findings can be used in marriage education are provided.     

Can I Trust You? Laterality of Facial Trustworthiness in an Economic Game

People tend to turn their left or right cheek to express or conceal emotions, respectively. We examined the lateral posing bias for displaying trustworthiness during a trust game in which participants and their virtual partners cooperated or did not cooperate with their counterparts to earn a monetary reward. Right-handed participants (N = 81) were asked to pose for a photograph and then play the trust game. Participants showed an overall left posing bias (i.e., showing their left cheek to the camera). The left cheek bias was more stable for participants that cooperated very little in the trust game (non-cooperators) than for those that cooperated a lot (cooperators). In the rating experiment (N = 28 and 25), non-cooperators showing their left cheek were rated equally as trustworthy as cooperators. On the other hand, non-cooperators who showed their right cheek were rated as less trustworthy than cooperators. These results suggest that non-cooperators intuitively use the left hemiface to exploit others in social interactions.