Trust (social sciences)

Trust in sociology is a relationship between people. It involves the suspension of disbelief that one person will have towards another person or idea. It especially involves having one person thinking that the other person or idea is benevolent, competent / good, or honest / true. In social psychology this notion of trust is being increasingly adopted to predict acceptance of measures not only taken by other people but also instutions (e.g. the government agencies) or even technological appliances.

Much work has been done on the notion of trust and of its social implications. The work of Barbara Misztal attempts to combine all notions of trust together. She points out that there are three basic things that trust does in the lives of people. It makes social life predictable, it creates a sense of community, and it makes it easier for people to work together.

Trust can be said to be the basis of all social institutions. It is also integral to the idea of social influence, as it is easier to influence or persuade someone who is trusting.

Trust can be contrasted with Power (sociology). Though they intuitively might seem like opposite concepts, they sometimes overlap. For example, Stockholm syndrome and in charismatic authority.

Trust is also studied by economists, for example in the context of the Trust game.