Trust, as applied to people relationships is a complex mixture of faith, expectation and reliability. There is also an element of predictability, when it comes to trusting another person.
I have read in social sciences, that trust is defined to originate from four elements: competence, reliability, integrity and communication. But what does this mean for relationships?
Is trust a starting point in relationships? how can that be when one does not understand or does not have enough information to assess the competence or reliability of the other person. Definitely not enough to establish integrity. Maybe communication, but is that enough to develop trust?
If its not a starting point, but rather evolves over time, then how does this impact the development of a relationship? A relationship without a starting point of trust, might be, at best, a roller-coaster of emotions, or at worst, doomed to fail.
While I believe trust is a rational well-analyzed outcome, this may not always be the case. We develop 'a sense of trust' when we interact with different people. This may be a result of communication (people who communicate well), similarity (e.g., same nationality), or competence (experts in a certain field). In such scenarios, we develop, what I would call a 'null-hypothesis' of trust. This is our way of saying - 'I trust the person, unless they prove me wrong'.
I am dealing with trust here as a binary outcome (either you trust someone or not). However, in reality, trust is always qualified. For example, one can trust almost anyone to reply to a message, but trust fewer people with their car. The levels of trust required in both scenarios are quite different.
While the null-hypothesis helps establish a starting point, the level of trust is maintained as an active 'trust account'. The level of trust gets reinforced or diminished based on people's actions. When people act/react in a manner that reinforces trust, they contribute to their 'trust account' held by you. Conversely, when they act/react in a manner that diminishes the trust, they withdraw from their 'trust account' held by you.
I believe that understanding what the 'null-hypothesis' is, and evaluating the trust-balance in the 'trust account' can help build strong and 'trusted' relationships.
PS: this post is based purely on personal reflections and inquiries. Does not reflect or borrow from any existing material.
