Jamal Awil

← Trust and Trustworthiness

Trust theories split between cognitive assessment and purely dispositional forms. [definitional]

In the academic literature, there are four main theories or models of trust that are actually brought to bear in empirical claims and research. Three of these are based on the kinds of reasons for judging the trustworthiness of the potentially trusted, and we could as sensibly say that these are three different theories of trustworthiness as that they are theories of trust. These kinds of reasons are encapsulated interest, moral commitment, and commitment from character. Two of these—moral commitment and character—are dispositional reasons, and the other—encapsulated interest—is a reason from interests. The fundamentally important common feature of these three theories or models of trust is that they require cognitive assessments of the trustworthiness of the potentially trusted. The fourth theory is purely dispositional trust that is not grounded in the assessment of the trustworthiness of the trusted and therefore is not at all a theory

DEFINE: Distinguishes three reason-based trustworthiness theories from a fourth purely dispositional trust model.

Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, loc. 872