Introduction

Summary

Since the early days of humankind, trust has been an essential factor for establishing and maintaining cooperative and mutually beneficial interpersonal relationships with strangers, friends, family members, etc., impacting our social interactions across all aspects of our private and public lives in a wide range of social, economic, and political contexts. Portraying a social dilemma, trust can be conceptualized as a trustor’s investment of resources (e.g., money, time, energy) into another party (i.e., a trustee) that encompasses uncertainty regarding the benefits of reciprocation in the future, thus opening up the possibilities for deceiving and cheating in human society. These interpersonal trust decisions – ranging from small (e.g., trusting that a stranger provides you with a correct route description) to large (e.g., trusting your spouse to be faithful) transactions – are imperative for shaping our social lives and have cascading positive and negative consequences. When people trust each other, society is more inclusive and accessible, economic transactions are facilitated, and feelings of well-being prosper (Rothstein & Uslaner, 2005; Simpson, 2007; Zak & Knack, 2001). For example, the current unprecedented pandemic of COVID-19 has highlighted the significance of trust in regulating our social lives. We not only trust our political leaders to tell the truth about the impact of this virus but also that others take the necessary precautions (e.g., social distancing, wearing face coverings, limiting unnecessary contact, self-isolation and quarantining in the case of an infection) to slow the spread of the virus.