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Acquisition and maintenance of trusting behavior
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
|January 1, 1981
Summary
External contingencies are necessary for developing trusting behavior in two-person exchanges. Minimal trust emerged without them, but significant trust developed when specific contingencies were introduced.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Behavioral Economics
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Understanding trust development in interpersonal exchanges is crucial.
- Previous research has explored factors influencing cooperation and trust.
- The role of external contingencies in fostering trusting behavior remains an area of investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if natural contingencies within a two-person exchange promote trusting behavior.
- To investigate whether external contingencies are required for the development of trust.
- To examine the conditions under which trusting behavior emerges and is maintained.
Main Methods:
- Pairs of college students engaged in a matching-to-sample task for monetary rewards.
- Trusting behavior was operationalized as a temporary deviation from equitable distribution of tasks.
- Different external contingency requirements (lever pulls) were manipulated to influence task distribution.
Main Results:
- Without external contingencies, only minimal trust (strict alternation) was observed.
- Introducing external contingencies (30 or 60 lever pulls) led to the development and expansion of trusting behavior.
- Once established, trust could be maintained with weaker contingencies, suggesting reduced aversiveness of temporary inequity.
Conclusions:
- External contingencies are necessary for the acquisition of significant trusting behavior in this experimental paradigm.
- The aversiveness of inequity in trusting necessitates a contingency for its initial development.
- As trust develops, the perceived importance of the direction of inequity diminishes, facilitating its maintenance.
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