Vulnerability or resilience? Examining trust asymmetry from the perspective of risk sources under descriptive versus experiential decision

IntroductionThe investigation of trust vulnerability is important to the understanding of the potential mechanisms of trust formation and erosion. However, more effective exploration of trust vulnerability has been hindered due to the lack of consideration of risk sources and types of information.Me...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jingyuan Zhu, Yingying Yao, Shan Jiang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-08-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1207453/full
_version_ 1797751891602440192
author Jingyuan Zhu
Yingying Yao
Shan Jiang
author_facet Jingyuan Zhu
Yingying Yao
Shan Jiang
author_sort Jingyuan Zhu
collection DOAJ
description IntroductionThe investigation of trust vulnerability is important to the understanding of the potential mechanisms of trust formation and erosion. However, more effective exploration of trust vulnerability has been hindered due to the lack of consideration of risk sources and types of information.MethodsThis study extended the investigation of asymmetry to both social and natural risk under experiential and descriptive decisions. Using the trust game as the decision-making paradigm and money as the subject matter, the research employed experimental methods to examine how people perceive and make decisions after being positively and negatively affected by natural and social risks. A total of 286 college students were participated in our study. Study 1 (n = 138) and Study 2 (n = 148) explored asymmetry in experiential and descriptive decision separately.ResultsThe findings indicated that when considering experiential information, negative information had a greater effect in reducing trust compared to the enhancing effect of positive information (t = −1.95, p = 0.050). Moreover, the study revealed that negative information had a stronger negative impact in the context of social risks rather than natural risks (t = −3.26, p = 0.002), suggesting that trust is vulnerable both internally and externally. Conversely, when considering descriptive information, the effect of both positive and negative information on trust was symmetrical, and the impact of negative information was less significant compared to that of natural risks, indicating that trust has a certain level of resilience (t = 2.25, p = 0.028).DiscussionThe study emphasizes the importance of refining risk sources and information characteristics in complex scenarios in order to improve understanding of trust enhancement and repair.
first_indexed 2024-03-12T16:55:13Z
format Article
id doaj.art-f994d53c62a0478e8e2ee902046b50d6
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1664-1078
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-12T16:55:13Z
publishDate 2023-08-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Psychology
spelling doaj.art-f994d53c62a0478e8e2ee902046b50d62023-08-08T07:52:16ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782023-08-011410.3389/fpsyg.2023.12074531207453Vulnerability or resilience? Examining trust asymmetry from the perspective of risk sources under descriptive versus experiential decisionJingyuan ZhuYingying YaoShan JiangIntroductionThe investigation of trust vulnerability is important to the understanding of the potential mechanisms of trust formation and erosion. However, more effective exploration of trust vulnerability has been hindered due to the lack of consideration of risk sources and types of information.MethodsThis study extended the investigation of asymmetry to both social and natural risk under experiential and descriptive decisions. Using the trust game as the decision-making paradigm and money as the subject matter, the research employed experimental methods to examine how people perceive and make decisions after being positively and negatively affected by natural and social risks. A total of 286 college students were participated in our study. Study 1 (n = 138) and Study 2 (n = 148) explored asymmetry in experiential and descriptive decision separately.ResultsThe findings indicated that when considering experiential information, negative information had a greater effect in reducing trust compared to the enhancing effect of positive information (t = −1.95, p = 0.050). Moreover, the study revealed that negative information had a stronger negative impact in the context of social risks rather than natural risks (t = −3.26, p = 0.002), suggesting that trust is vulnerable both internally and externally. Conversely, when considering descriptive information, the effect of both positive and negative information on trust was symmetrical, and the impact of negative information was less significant compared to that of natural risks, indicating that trust has a certain level of resilience (t = 2.25, p = 0.028).DiscussionThe study emphasizes the importance of refining risk sources and information characteristics in complex scenarios in order to improve understanding of trust enhancement and repair.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1207453/fulltrust asymmetryrisk sourcesnatural riskssocial risksdescriptive decisionsexperiential decisions
spellingShingle Jingyuan Zhu
Yingying Yao
Shan Jiang
Vulnerability or resilience? Examining trust asymmetry from the perspective of risk sources under descriptive versus experiential decision
Frontiers in Psychology
trust asymmetry
risk sources
natural risks
social risks
descriptive decisions
experiential decisions
title Vulnerability or resilience? Examining trust asymmetry from the perspective of risk sources under descriptive versus experiential decision
title_full Vulnerability or resilience? Examining trust asymmetry from the perspective of risk sources under descriptive versus experiential decision
title_fullStr Vulnerability or resilience? Examining trust asymmetry from the perspective of risk sources under descriptive versus experiential decision
title_full_unstemmed Vulnerability or resilience? Examining trust asymmetry from the perspective of risk sources under descriptive versus experiential decision
title_short Vulnerability or resilience? Examining trust asymmetry from the perspective of risk sources under descriptive versus experiential decision
title_sort vulnerability or resilience examining trust asymmetry from the perspective of risk sources under descriptive versus experiential decision
topic trust asymmetry
risk sources
natural risks
social risks
descriptive decisions
experiential decisions
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1207453/full
work_keys_str_mv AT jingyuanzhu vulnerabilityorresilienceexaminingtrustasymmetryfromtheperspectiveofrisksourcesunderdescriptiveversusexperientialdecision
AT yingyingyao vulnerabilityorresilienceexaminingtrustasymmetryfromtheperspectiveofrisksourcesunderdescriptiveversusexperientialdecision
AT shanjiang vulnerabilityorresilienceexaminingtrustasymmetryfromtheperspectiveofrisksourcesunderdescriptiveversusexperientialdecision