In the name of TRUST...

Did you ever trust someone completely unknown to you? If yes, what were the reasons for trusting that unknown person? Have you ever thought of reasons behind trusting someone??

Last month, I was enjoying my vacation and visit to a famous tourist destination. During the two days busy schedule, we enjoyed a mini excursion-cum-adventure. That’s when the seed of the “TRUST” questions sown in my head. Four of us were excited to visit the local waterfall and so took the shuttle bus service to reach the entry point to realize that one must cross the stream at four ends to reach closer to the waterfall. It was a mini adventure as the water level was almost up to knee level, and the path was full of slippery pebbles and small rocks. We were not prepared and were in a double mind to take the plunge. My husband was the most enthusiastic, confident fellow ready to go ahead. While the other three of us were contemplating the idea….one local young fellow appeared from nowhere, approaching us…asking in his mother tongue if he could help us to pass the stream and go closer to the waterfall. He kept telling us about the fun and ease of crossing the steam and enjoying the waterfall. He was convinced that we can trust him and he will take us through….all this in his language. Don’t know ‘how and why but we just go ready. Of course, it wasn’t a life and death situation but surely we didn’t want to break our bones and get injured. He didn’t talk about his fees, charges, or anything. He was already in the water, ready for handholding and guiding us on which route to follow.

It was a fantastic experience, the next 45 to 50 minutes were full of thrill for us. We just followed this fellow. He offered support and without thinking even for a second, I took his help. Communication was reachable, more non-verbal, and understandable in terms of ‘Dos and Don’t’. At the third crossing, we were about to give up as the waterfall was still invisible and the water level had increased. But this man managed to convince us to reach the finish line and enjoy the view. He did not want us to go back without reaching the end. After crossing the stream at four different locations barefoot on those slippery pebbles and rocks…we reached much closer to our desired destination. And we made it…view was good. In India, we had seen multiple waterfalls during the monsoon season which are scenic and full of fun. But the beauty and thrill of reaching this one were different. During our luxury vacation, we had taken a mini adventurous trail to reach the place probably after years that were too completely unplanned. By the end of the trail, we had a sense of achievement for ourselves and appreciation for the young fellow who made sure that we go close to the fall and return safely. He didn’t ask, but I paid him handsome money. He was happy and within 2 minutes, he was gone. Probably he found another family like ours to cross the stream.

It was a simple case of a tourist guide informally doing his job and he did his job. What’s great about that?

But I kept on wondering thinking, ‘what made us accept his offer and go with him when he was not an official ‘tour guide’ or had no information about him. He wasn’t even able to communicate well. There was some risk element. I could have slipped in the water, hurt myself, man could have just left us midway or could have asked a very large sum. What made us ‘TRUST him’?? He was not in our life 45 mins back. He exited our life 45 mins later. But for those 45 mins, we trusted him for our lives.

‘Why do we trust someone?’ What are the reasons behind trusting someone? What is the psychology of ‘Trust’? I randomly started asking these questions to people around me. And I realized that the answers were –

a) Trust is experienced at the personal and professional level

b) Trust is linked with the person’s credibility and/or ethical standing

c) Trust is out of emotional dependability, vulnerability

d) Trust is situational and/or emotional.

Based on the definition of McKnight and Chevany, 'Trust' consists of four different things: benevolence, integrity, competence, and predictability. Benevolence means, 'is this person a kind person?', Integrity means, 'is this person ethical?' Competence means, 'can this person do what needs to be done?' And finally, predictability means, 'does this person behave in a way that one can consistently forecast?'

In my situation, 'TRUST' was more out of perceived skill and my vulnerability in the given situation. My mind jumped to the next level of thought; 'why did I trust a stranger?'

The mystery of why people trust strangers even though they think they shouldn’t have been studied by University of Michigan psychologist David Dunning and his associates. As per their research, trust in strangers comes as part of ‘altruism’ (the act of doing something that benefits someone else) and public reputation. People often make public displays of generosity to enhance their social prestige.

As per NYU psychology researchers, ‘Our trust in strangers is dependent on their resemblance to others we’ve previously known. ‘Its results show that strangers resembling past individuals known to be trustworthy are trusted more; by contrast, those like others known to be untrustworthy are trusted less.

As per another study, trust is experience based on physical features and gestures displayed by the individual.

Again, in my situation, it was more about my perception which was probably related to his physical displays and gestures than the other two reasons.

David Ludden wrote, ‘In the concrete jungles we live in, most people we interact with are strangers. Yet for society to work, we have to trust these strangers not to take advantage of us. it’s about giving in to the social norm that you should trust strangers unless you have a good reason not to.’ This simple rule makes the modern world go round.”

Remember, trust strangers unless you have a good reason not to. Don’t overthink like me!

Remember, trust strangers unless you have a good reason not to. Don’t overthink like me!