One may ask whether this is a credible psychological view. Robert Frank (1988, chapter 3) thinks we are likely to trust even against reason if we develop or inherit moral characters of trustworthiness. He might further think we ought to develop these moral characters (even if we did not inherit them) if doing so is—as he seems to think—the cost of developing a character that will benefit us. Here, however, rationality, or self-interest, stands in the background to justify the character development.

XREF: Connects to rational-choice theory debates and the puzzle of why people cooperate against narrow self-interest.

Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, loc. 347