The Neuroeconomics of Distrust: Sex Differences in Behavior and Physiology

摘要

Trust is an essential component of transactions that occur over time. The amount of trust accorded to others is typically conditioned on multiple factors, including knowledge of the other party, the history of interactions, and the context of exchange. Determining who to trust and who to distrust is especially important in modern societies with largely impersonal exchange (Vernon L. Smith, 2003). In fact, trust is among the strongest predictors of whether a country will successfully develop: poor countries are by-and-large low-trust countries. This occurs because low trust inhibits investment and thereby the creation of wealth (Zak and Stephen Knack, 2001).