Trust is often achieved simply by the continuity of the relation between parties and the recognition by each that what he might gain by cheating in a given instance is outweighed by the value of the tradition of trust that makes possible a long sequence of future agreement. By the same token, “trust” may be achieved for a single discontinuous instance, if it can be divided into a succession of increments.

XREF: This echoes classic game-theoretic reasoning about iterated prisoner's dilemma and reputation models found in economics literature.

Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, loc. 311