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Aversions to Trust

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2015

Anne Corcos ,
François Pannequin  and
Sacha Bourgeois-Gironde
Anne Corcos
Affiliation:
Université de Picardie & LEM-Université de Paris 2
François Pannequin
Affiliation:
École Normale Supérieure de Cachan & Centre d'Économie de la Sorbonne
Sacha Bourgeois-Gironde
Affiliation:
LEM-Université Paris-2 (Panthéon-Assas)
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Summary

In this article, we focus on two types of “aversion” which we deem essential aspects of the notion of trust: betrayal aversion (social) and ambiguity aversion (a special case of aversion to uncertainty). Based on trust-games studies in experimental economics and neuroeconomics, our main goal is to assess the conceptual, behavioral and neurobiological connections between betrayal and ambiguity aversions.

From a social and individual psychological point of view the bottom line of our trusting behavior could be our general aversion to ambiguous signals. We approach social trust in the terms of a phenomenon based on uncertainty aversion. Specifically, a reduction of the perceived uncertainty of a social interaction tends to build up a trusting climate conducive to trade by decreasing betrayal aversion. We hypothesize that betrayal aversion and ambiguity aversion bear such a negative correlation.

Focusing on this potential negative correlation our approach clearly differs from more positive accounts of trust centred on altruism.

Cet article met l'accent sur deux types d'aversion qui nous paraissent fondamentales dans la compréhension de la notion de confiance: l'aversion à la trahison (sociale) et l'aversion à l'ambiguïté (une catégorie particulière d'aversion à l'incertitude). À partir des études d'économie expérimentales et de neuroéconomie fondées sur le jeu de confiance, notre objectif vise principalement à évaluer les liens - d'ordres conceptuel, comportemental et neurobiologique - entre l'aversion à la trahison et l'aversion à l'ambiguïté.

D'un point de vue psychologique individuel ou social, il semble bien que l'aversion générale vis-à-vis des signaux ambigus pourrait constituer le principal déterminant du comportement de confiance. Il s'agit de voir en quoi la confiance sociale apparaît comme un phénomène fondé sur l'aversion à l'incertitude. Plus précisément, selon notre approche, une réduction de l'incertitude ressentie pour l'interaction sociale favoriserait un climat de confiance propice à l'échange, en réduisant l'aversion à la trahison. Ainsi, tant l'aversion à la trahison que l'aversion à l'ambiguïté s'avèrent négativement corrélées avec la confiance.

En se focalisant sur cette corrélation négative potentielle, notre approche se démarque nettement des approches de la confiance axées sur la notion d'altruisme

Keywords

trust gamebetrayal aversionambiguity aversionneuroeconomicsC72C91D03D87jeu de la confianceaversion à la trahison, aversion à l'ambigüiténeuroéconomieC72C91D03D87
Type
II) Behaviorial Economics under the Scanner
Information
Recherches Économiques de Louvain/ Louvain Economic Review , Volume 78 , Issue 3-4 , December 2012 , pp. 115 - 134
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de recherches économiques et sociales 2012 

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