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Enhancing feelings of security: How institutional trust promotes interpersonal trust
Giuliana Spadaro1, Katharina Gangl2,3, Jan-Willem Van Prooijen1,4
1Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Plos One
|September 11, 2020
Summary
Public institutions foster interpersonal trust by increasing feelings of security. This research demonstrates how institutional trust positively impacts social cohesion among strangers, a key factor in societal development.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Political Science
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- Interpersonal trust is crucial for social and economic development.
- The influence of public institutions on interpersonal trust is a long-standing debate.
- Empirical data on this relationship and its psychological mechanisms are scarce and inconsistent.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test a model proposing that institutional trust indirectly enhances interpersonal trust via increased feelings of security.
- To provide experimental and behavioral evidence for the link between institutional trust and trust among strangers.
Main Methods:
- Study 1: Survey on trust in state institutions.
- Study 2: Analysis of nationally representative data from 16 countries.
- Study 3: Experimental manipulation of institutional trust.
Main Results:
- Convergent evidence supports the hypothesis that institutional trust enhances feelings of security, thereby promoting interpersonal trust.
- The observed effects remained consistent after controlling for individual dispositions and country-level institutional performance.
- Findings held across survey, cross-national, and experimental designs.
Conclusions:
- Trusted public institutions enhance individuals' sense of security.
- This increased security, in turn, fosters greater interpersonal trust among unrelated individuals.
- The study contributes empirical support to the understanding of how institutions shape social trust.
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