Can I Still Trust You? Late Trust Violations Hinder Subsequent Cooperation

Trust is necessary to build and maintain relationships, making the ability to rebuild trust after it has been broken also important. This study explored how the timing of a trust violation (whether it came early in a longterm interaction, before a relationship is established, or later, after a cooperative relationship had been established) impacts subsequent behavioral and attitudinal trust, based on whether the interaction partner is an ingroup or outgroup member (using political ideology). A sample of 208 U.S. participants played 20 rounds of a trust game with either an ingroup member or an outgroup member and were randomly assigned to experience an early trust violation or a late trust violation. Late trust violations were more detrimental than early trust violations. However, there was no significant difference in trusting behaviors and attitudes between ingroup and outgroup pairings, nor a significant difference in how the timing of the trust violation impacted subsequent behavioral trust between ingroup and outgroup pairings. Nonetheless, subsequent trusting attitudes were higher for ingroup pairings after an early trust violation compared to a late one. Moreover, behavioral trust in the first round, before any trust violation had occurred, was higher among ingroup partners, indicating the presence of an ingroup effect, which was nullified over the course of the longerterm interaction. Ultimately, these results suggest that it is important to establish a pattern of trustworthy behavior over time to build relationships. Furthermore, an ingroup bias does not preclude similar kinds of cooperation between outgroup members.