Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 26, 2025

The Collective Trust Game: An Online Group Adaptation of the Trust Game Based on the HoneyComb Paradigm
Published on: October 20, 2022
The relationship of trust and dependence
Colleen E Patton1, Christopher D Wickens2
1Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Abstract:
The concepts of automation trust and dependence have often been viewed as closely related and on occasion, have been conflated in the research community. Yet, trust is a cognitive attitude and dependence is a behavioural measure, so it is unsurprising that different factors can affect the two. Here, we review the literature on the correlation between trust and dependence. On average, this correlation across people was quite low, suggesting that people who are more trusting of automation do not necessarily depend upon it more. Separately, we examined experiments that explicitly manipulated the reliability of automation, finding that higher automation reliability increased trust ratings twice as fast as dependence behaviours. This review provides novel quantitative evidence that the two constructs are not strongly correlated. Implications of this work, including potential moderating variables, contexts where trust is still relevant, and considerations of trust measurement, are discussed.
Related Concept Videos
Drug Dependence
Theory of Romantic Attachment in Adulthood
Social Exchange Theory
Personality Disorders: Dependent and Obsessive-Compulsive
Dependent Personality Disorder
Dependent personality disorder is characterized by an excessive reliance on others to manage various aspects of life. Individuals with this disorder often struggle...
Relationship Formation
Ryan and Deci's Self-Determination Theory
Autonomy is the need to feel in control of one's actions and decisions. For example, a student who chooses their research topic is likely to be more engaged and motivated than one who...

