Trust or Distrust: The Effect of Facial Emotion and Trustworthy Behavior on Trust Decision-Making

Abstract

Based on the model of emotion as social information, this study explores the effects of facial emotions and trustworthy behavior on trust decision-making in trust game through two experiments. The present study used trust game explores the impact of players’ facial emotion, arousal and trustworthy behavior on individual trust decision-making through two experiments. The results can be summed up as follows: (1) in the repeated interaction with four players, individuals invest more in trustworthy players than untrustworthy players; (2) individuals invested more in trustworthy players with happy facial emotions, while untrustworthy players with angry facial emotions received less investment. High-arousal facial emotion results in a more extreme investment by the individual; (3) when the players’ facial emotion and behavior are inconsistent, the individual will judge according to the player’s current behavior, rather than the facial emotion or past behavior.

Keywords

• trust game
• facial emotions
• trustworthy behavior
• emotional arousal
• trust decision making