The Affective and Intuitive Forms of Trust: The Confidence We Inspire - Trust Theory: A Socio-Cognitive and Computational Model - page 127

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The Affective and Intuitive
Forms of Trust: The Confidence
We Inspire

In this chapter 1 we analyze an aspect of trust which is in a sense 'marginal' relative to our
systematic and analytic theory, 2 but not marginal at all from a complete and adequate account
of trust and of its real significance and functioning in human interaction: the affective version or
components of trust . This aspect is also very crucial for social, economic, and moral theories.
Is it not actually too 'cold' and reductive to treat trust as a judgment and a reason-based
decision? Is not trust something that we just feel and cannot explain?
We have just analyzed the cognitive explicit facet of trust as beliefs and goals about some-
thing, and a consequent decision of relying upon it. We have completely put aside the affective
side: the trust that we 'inspire', the merely intuitive, emotional facet. It is true that trust can
also be this or just this: no judgment, no reasons, but simply attraction and sympathy .This
is an automatic, associative, unconscious form of appraisal: we do not know why we prefer Y
and are attracted by Y .
There are beautiful experiments by Bargh's group on this form of affective appraisal. One
should also account for the personality aspects of trust as disposition or as default attitude.
Some emotions are based on and elicited by true evaluations (beliefs), and also, trust as
affective disposition can be based on trust as esteem and good expectations. And the affective
aspect of trust can play a role by modifying the belief process, source, and 'decision'. But, on
the other hand, trust can be a non-belief-based emotional reaction, an affective attitude simply
activated by unconscious perception of signs or associations, by 'somatic markers' (Damasio,
1994), (Castelfranchi, 1998).

1 This chapter does build heavily on the work with Maria Miceli on the theory of emotions, evaluation, intuitive
appraisal.
2 It is also marginal in part for applications in some domains like ICT (but not 'affective interaction' or web
communities), but not at all in other domains like marketing or politics.