Trust or Distrust: The Effect of Facial Emotion and Trustworthy Behavior on Trust Decision-Making

Psychol Belg. 2023 Aug 17;63(1):105-119. doi: 10.5334/pb.1214. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Based on the model of emotion as social information, this study explores the effects of facial emotions and trustworthy behavior on trust decision-making in trust game through two experiments. The present study used trust game explores the impact of players' facial emotion, arousal and trustworthy behavior on individual trust decision-making through two experiments. The results can be summed up as follows: (1) in the repeated interaction with four players, individuals invest more in trustworthy players than untrustworthy players; (2) individuals invested more in trustworthy players with happy facial emotions, while untrustworthy players with angry facial emotions received less investment. High-arousal facial emotion results in a more extreme investment by the individual; (3) when the players' facial emotion and behavior are inconsistent, the individual will judge according to the player's current behavior, rather than the facial emotion or past behavior.

Keywords: emotional arousal; facial emotions; trust decision making; trust game; trustworthy behavior.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by General Project of Education of the National Social Science Fund: The development, influencing factors and intervention system of middle school students’ moral shading: Based on decision-making process theory (grant no. BEA210108).