Is Propensity to Trust a Personality Trait?

Yavor Dragostinov (Heriot-Watt University)

Researchers have argued that propensity to trust others remains consistent across various social contexts, suggesting it functions as a personality trait. However, concerns have been raised about the psychometric instruments used to measure propensity to trust. Criticisms focus on the inadequate construction of survey items and the heavy reliance on self-report data. This suggests that current measures may not only capture situational reactions but also can be reflective of biases stemming from inaccurate self-assessment and the desire to present oneself favourably. In this talk, I will present the steps we have taken to mitigate these issues, introduce the new Propensity to Trust scale that we’ve developed and validated, and discuss our upcoming plans to evaluate its predictive validity.

In-person: WA 1.08, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh;
Online: click ‘Join via MS Teams’.