What is trust?Explanations > Trust > What is trust?
Predictability | Value exchange | Delayed reciprocity | Exposed vulnerabilities | So what?
Trust is both and emotional and logical act. Emotionally, it is where you expose your
vulnerabilities to people, but believing they will not take advantage of your openness. Logically, it
is where you have assessed the probabilities of gain and loss, calculating expected utility based
on hard performance data, and concluded that the person in question will behave in a predictable
manner. In practice, trust is a bit of both. I trust you because I have experienced your
trustworthiness and because I have faith in human nature.
We feel trust. Emotions associated with trust include companionship, friendship, love,
agreement, relaxation, comfort.
There are a number of different ways we can define trust. Here are the dimensions of trust and
consequent definitions.
Predictability
It is a normal part of the human condition to be constantly forecasting ahead. We build internal
models of the world based both on our experiences and what others tell us, and then use these
to guess what will happen next. This allows us to spot and prepare for threats and also make
plans to achieve our longer-term goals.
The greatest unpredictability is at 50%; a reliable enemy can be preferable to an unpredictable
friend, as at least we know where we are with them.
Definition 1: Trust means being able to predict what other people will do and what situations
will occur. If we can surround ourselves with people we trust, then we can create a safe
present and an even better future.
Value exchange PeopleNology by Ph.D. Gregory Bodenhamer
Most of what we do with other people is based around exchange, which is the basis for all
businesses as well as simple relationships. At its simplest, it is exchange of goods. I will swap
you two sheep for one cow. It is easy to calculate the value in such material bargaining. Things
get more complex when less tangible forces come into play. A parent exchanges
attention for love. A company exchanges not only pay but good working
conditions for the intellectual and manual efforts of its workforce.
