How Implicit Beliefs Influence Trust Recovery

• DOI: 10.1177/0956797610367752
• Publication Date: 2010-10-18T05:10:45Z
• Authors: Michael P. Haselhuhn; Maurice E. Schwei...; Alison M. Wood
• Keywords: Male; Other Social and Behavioral Sciences; Character; Deception; Culture; Decision Making; 05 social sciences; Retrospective Moral Judgment; Trust; deception; Other Psychology; Judgment; trust erosion; Humans; implicit beliefs; Female; Interpersonal Relations; 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences; Theory and Philosophy

After a trust violation, some people are quick to forgive, whereas others never trust again. In this report, we identify a key characteristic that moderates trust recovery: implicit beliefs of moral character. Individuals who believe that moral character can change over time ( incremental beliefs) are more likely to trust their counterpart following an apology and trustworthy behavior than are individuals who believe that moral character cannot change ( entity beliefs). We demonstrate that a simple but powerful message can induce either entity or incremental beliefs about moral character.