Trust and Rationality (eBook)

Dr. Stephan Alexander Rompf studied Sociology and Economics at the University of Mannheim and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, India. He is currently working as a financial analyst.

Acknowledgements 6
Table of Contents 7
Index of Figures 11
Index of Tables 12
1 Introduction 13
1.1 Achievements and Enduring Questions in Trust Research 13
1.2 Aim and Structure of this Work 19
1.3 Summary of Empirical Results 23
2 The Concept of Trust 26
2.1 Objective Structure 28
2.1.1 Constituents of Interpersonal Trust Relations 28
2.1.2 The Basic Trust Problem 30
2.1.3 Trust and Action 32
2.1.4 Social Uncertainty 33
2.1.5 Vulnerability 35
2.2 Subjective Experience 36
2.2.1 The Phenomenology of Trust 36
2.2.2 Expectations and Intentions 38
2.2.3 About Risk 45
2.2.4 Morals of Trust 49
2.2.5 Feelings and Emotions 53
2.3 Conceptual Boundaries 60
2.3.1 Familiarity and Confidence 60
2.3.2 Self-Trust 63
2.3.3 System Trust 64
2.3.4 Distrust 66
2.4 From Structure to Experience 71
3 Origins and Explanations: An Interdisciplinary Approach 76
3.1 Psychological Development 78
3.1.1 Learning and Socialization 78
3.1.2 Basic Trust 82
3.1.3 Individual Dispositions and Traits 85
3.1.4 Models of Trust Development 88
3.2 Sociological Perspectives 94
3.2.1 Functions of Trust 94
3.2.2 Social Embeddedness 97
3.2.3 Social Capital and Reciprocity 107
3.2.4 Trust and Culture 109
3.3 The Economics of Trust 116
3.3.1 The Rational Choice Paradigm 116
3.3.2 Modeling Trust 120
3.3.3 Encapsulated Interest 123
3.3.4 Contracts and Agency 129
3.3.5 Social Preferences 136
3.3.6 The Limits of Rational Choice 144
3.4 Is Trust Rational? 148
4 Trust and Adaptive Rationality 154
4.1 Different Routes to Trust 156
4.2 Adaptive Rationality 163
4.2.1 The Dual-Process Paradigm 163
4.2.2 Context Dependence 171
4.2.3 Heuristics and Mental Shortcuts 177
4.2.4 The Neuroscience of Trust 182
4.3 Determinants of Information Processing 185
4.3.1 Opportunity 186
4.3.2 Motivation 187
4.3.3 Accessibility, Applicability, and Fit 188
4.3.4 Effort-Accuracy Tradeoffs 189
4.4 Dual-Processing: A Critical Assessment 191
4.5 The Model of Frame Selection 194
4.5.1 Modeling Adaptive Rationality 194
4.5.2 The Automatic Mode 197
4.5.3 The Rational Mode 201
4.5.4 The Mode-Selection Threshold 204
4.6 Explaining Conditional and Unconditional Trust 212
4.7 Theoretical and Empirical Implications 222
5 The Social Construction of Trust 231
5.1 Defining the Context 233
5.1.1 Symbolic Interaction 233
5.1.2 Language and other Signals 237
5.1.3 Relational Communication 243
5.1.4 Framing Relationships 245
5.2 Trust and Identity 247
5.2.1 The Concept of Identity 247
5.2.2 Categorization Processes 251
5.2.3 Signaling Identities 256
5.3 Active Trust Production 260
5.3.1 Active Trust 260
5.3.2 Impression Management 262
5.3.3 Trust Management Strategies 264
6 Developing an Empirical Test 269
6.1 Operationalization of Dependent and Independent Variables 272
6.1.1 The Measurement of Trust 272
6.1.2 Linking Transfer Decisions and Processing Modes 276
6.1.3 Recording Decision Times 278
6.1.4 Chronic Accessibility of Frames and Scripts 283
6.1.5 Intuition and the “Need for Cognition” 287
6.1.6 Control Variables 290
6.2 Experimental Design and Method 291
6.2.1 Experimental Design 291
6.2.2 Context Treatment 293
6.2.3 Incentive Treatment 296
6.2.4 Participants 299
6.2.5 Materials and Procedure 301
6.3 Empirical Hypotheses 302
6.3.1 Using the Model to Predict Trust 302
6.3.2 Main Effects 303
6.3.3 Interaction Effects 307
6.4 Descriptive Statistics 312
6.5 Analyzing Trust 320
6.5.1 Model Specification 320
6.5.2 Chronic Frame and Script Accessibility 325
6.5.3 NFC/FI as Mode-Selection Determinants 337
6.5.4 Discussion 339
6.6 Analyzing Decision Times 343
6.6.1 Model Specification 343
6.6.2 Distribution of DT and Non-Parametric Analyses 344
6.6.3 Chronic Frame and Script Accessibility 351
6.6.4 NFC/FI and Decision Times 354
6.6.5 Discussion 357
6.7 Exploring Subgroups 359
6.7.1 Low and High Accessibility 359
6.7.2 Cognitive Types 360
6.7.3 Combining Accessibility and Processing Preferences 363
6.8 Summary of Empirical Results 365
7 Synthesis: A Broad Perspective on Trust 373
7.1 Trust, Framing, and Adaptive Rationality 375
7.2 The Role of Institutions and Culture 379
7.3 Avenues for Future Trust Research 382
8 References 389