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Obligation at zero acquaintance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2020

David Dunning
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, [email protected]://lsa.umich.edu/psych/people/faculty/ddunning.html
Detlef Fetchenhauer
Affiliation:
Institute for Sociology and Social Psychology, University at Cologne, 50931Köln, Germany. [email protected] [email protected] https://www.iss-wiso.uni-koeln.de/en/institute/staff/f/prof-dr-detlef-fetchenhauer/ https://www.iss-wiso.uni-koeln.de/de/institut/personen/s/pd-dr-thomas-schloesser/
Thomas Schlösser
Affiliation:
Institute for Sociology and Social Psychology, University at Cologne, 50931Köln, Germany. [email protected] [email protected] https://www.iss-wiso.uni-koeln.de/en/institute/staff/f/prof-dr-detlef-fetchenhauer/ https://www.iss-wiso.uni-koeln.de/de/institut/personen/s/pd-dr-thomas-schloesser/

Abstract

Social obligation begins far before people establish explicit cooperative relationships. Research on trust suggests that people feel obligated to trust other people even at zero acquaintance, thus trusting complete strangers even though they privately expect to be exploited. Such obligations promote mutually beneficial behavior among strangers and likely help people build goodwill needed for more long-lasting relationships.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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