The encapsulated-interest account backs up a step from a simpler expectations account to inquire into the reasons for the relevant expectations—in particular, the interests of the trusted in fulfilling the trust. The typical reason for the expectations is that the relations are ongoing in some important sense. There are two especially important contexts for trust: ongoing dyadic relationships and ongoing—or thick—group or societal relationships. The two classes are closely related, and both are subsumed in the encapsulated-interest account of trust. The first class is divisible into one-way and mutual trust relations, both of which are grounded in ongoing dyadic interactions. Such interactions pose incentives to the trusted that are of increasing severity. The sanction that compels the trusted party in a one-way trust game and both of the trusted parties in the mutual trust exchange interaction is withdrawal by the other party and therefore the loss of future benefits from the interaction. The sanction in thick relationships can go beyond such withdrawal to include shunning from the whole community of those who share in the thick relationships.

DEFINE: Encapsulated-interest account frames trust as grounded in the trusted party's self-interest within ongoing relationships, where withdrawal from future interaction is the sanction.

Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, loc. 112