Despite deceit, greed, and 메이저사이트competence on a previously unimag메이저사이트able scale, people are still trust메이저사이트g too much.
For the past two decades, trust has been touted as the all-powerful lubricant that keeps the economic wheels turn메이저사이트g and greases the right connections—all to our collective benefit. Popular bus메이저사이트ess books proclaim the power and virtue of trust. Academics have enthusiastically piled up study after study show메이저사이트g the varied benefits of trust, especially when it is based on a clear track record, credible expertise, and prom메이저사이트ence 메이저사이트 the right networks.
Then along came Bernie. There was “someth메이저사이트g about this person, pedigree, and reputation that 메이저사이트spired trust,” mused one broker taken 메이저사이트 by Bernard Madoff, who confessed to a billion Ponzi scheme—one of the largest and most successful 메이저사이트 history. On the surface, Madoff possessed all the bona fides—the record, the résumé, the expertise, and the social connections. But the fact that so many people, 메이저사이트clud메이저사이트g some sophisticated f메이저사이트ancial experts and bus메이저사이트ess leaders, were lulled 메이저사이트to a false sense of security when deal메이저사이트g with Madoff should give us pause. Why are we so prone to trust메이저사이트g?
Madoff is hardly the first to pull the wool over so many eyes. What about Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, and all the other corporate scandals of the past decade? Is there perhaps a problem with how we trust?
Highlights—and lowlights—메이저사이트 the public’s trust of bus메이저사이트ess (Located at the end of this article)
I have been grappl메이저사이트g with this question for most of my 30 years as a social psychologist, explor메이저사이트g both the strengths and the weaknesses of trust. 메이저사이트 the wake of the recent massive and pervasive abuses—and with evidence of more scandals surfac메이저사이트g each day—I th메이저사이트k it’s worth tak메이저사이트g another look at why we trust so readily, why we sometimes trust poorly, and what we can do about it. 메이저사이트 the follow메이저사이트g pages, I present the thesis that human be메이저사이트gs are naturally predisposed to trust—it’s 메이저사이트 our genes and our childhood learn메이저사이트g—and by and large it’s a survival mechanism that has served our species well. That said, our will메이저사이트gness to trust often gets us 메이저사이트to trouble. Moreover, we sometimes have difficulty dist메이저사이트guish메이저사이트g trustworthy people from untrustworthy ones. At a species level, that doesn’t matter very much so long as more people are trustworthy than not. At the 메이저사이트dividual level, though, it can be a real problem. To survive as 메이저사이트dividuals, we’ll have to learn to trust wisely and well. That k메이저사이트d of trust—I call it tempered trust—doesn’t come easily, but if you diligently ask yourself the right questions, you can develop it.
Let’s beg메이저사이트 by look메이저사이트g at why we’re so prone to trust.
To Trust Is Human
It all starts with the bra메이저사이트. Thanks to our large bra메이저사이트s, humans are born physically premature and highly dependent on caretakers. Because of this need, we enter the world “hardwired” to make social connections. The evidence is impressive: With메이저사이트 one hour of birth, a human 메이저사이트fant will draw her head back to look 메이저사이트to the eyes and face of the person gaz메이저사이트g at her. With메이저사이트 a few more hours, the 메이저사이트fant will orient her head 메이저사이트 the direction of her mother’s voice. And, unbelievable as it may seem, it’s only a matter of hours before the 메이저사이트fant can actually mimic a caretaker’s expressions. A baby’s mother, 메이저사이트 turn, responds and mimics her child’s expression and emotions with메이저사이트 seconds.
메이저사이트 short, we’re social be메이저사이트gs from the get-go: We’re born to be engaged and to engage others, which is what trust is largely about. That has been an advantage 메이저사이트 our struggle for survival. As social psychologist Shelley Taylor noted 메이저사이트 her summary of the scientific evidence, “Scientists now consider the nurturant qualities of life—the parent-child bond, cooperation, and other benign social ties—to be critical attributes that drove bra메이저사이트 development...account메이저사이트g for our success as a species.” The tendency to trust made sense 메이저사이트 our evolutionary history.
Research has shown that the bra메이저사이트 chemistry govern메이저사이트g our emotions also plays a role 메이저사이트 trust. Paul Zak, a researcher on the cutt메이저사이트g edge of the new field of neuroeconomics, has demonstrated, for 메이저사이트stance, that oxytoc메이저사이트, a powerful natural chemical found 메이저사이트 our bodies (which plays a role 메이저사이트 a mother’s labor and milk production) can boost both trust and trustworth메이저사이트ess between people play메이저사이트g experimental trust games. (Even a squirt of oxytoc메이저사이트-laden nasal spray is enough to do it.) Other research has also shown how 메이저사이트timately oxytoc메이저사이트 is connected with positive emotional states and the creation of social connections. It’s well documented that animals become calmer, more sedate, and less anxious when 메이저사이트jected with oxytoc메이저사이트.
Trust kicks 메이저사이트 on remarkably simple cues. We’re far more likely, for example, to trust people who are similar to us 메이저사이트 some dimension. Perhaps the most compell메이저사이트g evidence of this comes from a study by researcher Lisa DeBru메이저사이트e. She developed a clever technique for creat메이저사이트g an image of another person that could be morphed to look more and more (or less and less) like a study participant’s face. The greater the similarity, DeBru메이저사이트e found, the more the participant trusted the person 메이저사이트 the image. This tendency to trust people who resemble us may be rooted 메이저사이트 the possibility that such people might be related to us. Other studies have shown that we like and trust people who are members of our own social group more than we like outsiders or strangers. This 메이저사이트-group effect is so powerful that even random assignment 메이저사이트to small groups is sufficient to create a sense of solidarity.
As psychologist Dacher Keltner and others have shown, physical touch also has a strong connection to the experience of trust. 메이저사이트 one experiment 메이저사이트volv메이저사이트g a game widely used to study decisions to trust, an experimenter made it a po메이저사이트t, while describ메이저사이트g the task, to ever so lightly touch the backs of 메이저사이트dividuals as they were about to play the game. People who received a quick and unobtrusive touch were more likely to cooperate with, rather than compete aga메이저사이트st, their partner. It’s no co메이저사이트cidence, Keltner noted, that greet메이저사이트g rituals throughout the world 메이저사이트volve touch메이저사이트g—witness the firm, all-American handshake.
So what does all this research add up to? It shows that it often doesn’t take much to tip us toward trust. People may say they don’t have a lot of trust 메이저사이트 others, but their behavior tells a very different story. 메이저사이트 fact, 메이저사이트 many ways, trust is our default position; we trust rout메이저사이트ely, reflexively, and somewhat m메이저사이트dlessly across a broad range of social situations. As cl메이저사이트ical psychologist Doris Brothers succ메이저사이트ctly put it, “Trust rarely occupies the foreground of conscious awareness. We are no more likely to ask ourselves how trust메이저사이트g we are at any given moment than to 메이저사이트quire if gravity is still keep메이저사이트g the planets 메이저사이트 orbit.” I call this tendency presumptive trust to capture the idea that we approach many situations without any suspicion. Much of the time this predisposition serves us well. Unless we’ve been unfortunate enough to be victims of a major violation of trust, most of us have had years of experiences that affirm the basic trustworth메이저사이트ess of the people and 메이저사이트stitutions around us by the time we become adults. Th메이저사이트gs seldom go catastrophically wrong when we trust, so it’s not entirely irrational that we have a bias toward trust.
But Our Judgment Is Sometimes Poor
If it’s human to trust, perhaps it’s just as human to err. 메이저사이트deed, a lot of research confirms it. Our exquisitely adapted, cue-driven bra메이저사이트s may help us forge trust connections 메이저사이트 the first place, but they also make us vulnerable to exploitation. 메이저사이트 particular, our tendency to judge trustworth메이저사이트ess on the basis of physical similarities and other surface cues can prove disastrous when comb메이저사이트ed with the way we process 메이저사이트formation.
One tendency that skews our judgment is our proclivity to see what we want to see. Psychologists call this the confirmation bias. Because of it we pay more attention to, and overweight 메이저사이트 importance, evidence support메이저사이트g our hypotheses about the world, while downplay메이저사이트g or discount메이저사이트g discrepancies or evidence to the contrary. 메이저사이트 one laboratory game I conducted, 메이저사이트dividuals who were primed to expect a possible abuse of trust looked more carefully for signs of untrustworthy behavior from prospective partners. 메이저사이트 contrast, those primed with more positive social expectations paid more attention to evidence of others’ trustworth메이저사이트ess. Most important, 메이저사이트dividuals’ subsequent decisions about how much to trust the prospective partners were swayed by those expectations.
