In a dilemma of trust, decision making involves two competing concerns: the egocentric evaluation of potential outcomes and understanding the other party’s point of view. These two considerations are not weighted equally; both trustors and trustees focus primarily on self-relevant information; perspective taking plays a limited, secondary role. The present research builds upon previous studies of egocentrism in social cognition, proposing an egocentric process-model of trust and reciprocity. According to the proposed model, decision makers follow a two stage process: The first stage is the evaluation of self-relevant information. When possible, decisions are based solely on egocentric information. If it is not possible to reach a conclusion, then a conditional stage of perspective taking occurs. Experiment 1 tests the proposed process using MouseLab, a software package that records the process of information search during decision making. MouseLab made it possible to directly test the egocentric model’s predictions about information retrieval and behavior. An implication of the egocentric model is that the lack of perspective taking leads to unnecessary distrust and betrayal. To further investigate this claim, Experiment 2 tests an intervention to induce greater perspective taking, and examines its effects on trust and reciprocity.
Evans, Anthony M.,
"Egocentrism and perspective taking in dilemmas of trust"
(2012).
Psychology Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.7301/Z00R9MQX
