The Truth About Trust audiobook cover - How It Determines Success in Life, Love, Learning, and More

The Truth About Trust

How It Determines Success in Life, Love, Learning, and More

David DeSteno

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Categories:
Sex & RelationshipsCommunication SkillsPsychology

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The Truth About Trust
Biology and Evolution+
Judging Trustworthiness+
Trust in Relationships+
Trusting Yourself+
Technology's Impact+
Actionable Strategies+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 10
According to the evolutionary perspective presented in the book, why do humans take the risk of trusting others?
  • A. To guarantee short-term individual rewards and eliminate personal risks.
  • B. To manipulate others into doing difficult tasks for them.
  • C. To obtain resources and long-term benefits that cannot be achieved by working alone.
  • D. To ensure absolute dominance over rival tribes in prehistoric times.
Question 2 of 10
What role does the vagus nerve play in our ability to trust?
  • A. It triggers a fight-or-flight response that helps us detect liars.
  • B. It brings the body to a calm and assertive state, which is a prerequisite for feeling trust.
  • C. It releases cortisol to heighten our awareness of potential betrayals.
  • D. It stimulates the brain's reward center whenever we successfully deceive someone.
Question 3 of 10
How do young children (three to five years old) primarily decide whether to trust an adult's information?
  • A. By evaluating the adult's perceived competence and accuracy.
  • B. By observing the adult's physical attractiveness and height.
  • C. By listening to the tone and volume of the adult's voice.
  • D. By noticing how closely the adult resembles their own parents.
Question 4 of 10
What did the crosswalk experiment and the 'trust game' reveal about people with high socioeconomic status?
  • A. They are highly dependent on others, making them highly trustworthy in business deals.
  • B. They are more generous in financial games due to their immense financial security.
  • C. They are more likely to trust strangers but less likely to follow the law.
  • D. They are generally less trustworthy and also less willing to trust others.
Question 5 of 10
What did the coin-flip experiment reveal about trusting our 'future selves'?
  • A. People can accurately predict their future moral behavior when given enough time to think.
  • B. People frequently act in untrustworthy ways but invent rationalizations to maintain a 'good person' self-image.
  • C. People rarely cheat if they believe they are participating in a scientific study.
  • D. People who cheat are fully aware of their untrustworthy nature and admit it freely.
Question 6 of 10
Why does the author argue against relying on a 'golden cue' (like shifty eyes) to determine trustworthiness?
  • A. Because trustworthy people are actually more likely to exhibit nervous tics.
  • B. Because modern technology has made physical body language completely obsolete.
  • C. Because accurate judgments require evaluating a configuration of cues within a specific situational context.
  • D. Because humans are biologically incapable of subconsciously reading facial expressions.
Question 7 of 10
What did researchers discover about social interactions in virtual worlds like Second Life?
  • A. Users completely disregard real-world social norms because of the anonymity.
  • B. Virtual interactions are entirely free from manipulation because avatars cannot display micro-expressions.
  • C. Users navigate virtual environments using the same basic social norms and rules that apply to real-world interactions.
  • D. Male avatars tend to stand much closer to each other than they would in real life.
Question 8 of 10
According to the book's actionable advice, what emotional state should you be in to get a realistic view of someone's trustworthiness?
  • A. You should be in a highly emotional state to ensure your primal instincts are activated.
  • B. You should be extremely calm so that you are open to trusting them completely.
  • C. You should intentionally make yourself slightly nervous to keep your guard up.
  • D. You should take a moment to calm down, avoiding states of extreme anger, nervousness, or excessive calmness.
Question 9 of 10
In the context of romantic relationships, what was observed in couples who entered discussions with high levels of trust?
  • A. They demanded larger sacrifices from their partners to prove their loyalty.
  • B. They showed a greater desire to collaborate and viewed their partner's compromises as noble sacrifices.
  • C. They were more likely to keep their individual goals completely separate to avoid conflict.
  • D. They relied less on communication and more on unspoken assumptions about the future.
Question 10 of 10
What did experiments involving monkeys demonstrate about the evolutionary roots of trust and fairness?
  • A. Monkeys will always accept any food reward, regardless of what others receive, prioritizing survival.
  • B. Monkeys will violently reject inferior rewards if they see another monkey receiving a better reward for the exact same task.
  • C. Monkeys only display anger when their food is taken away completely without explanation.
  • D. Monkeys use food sharing to trick researchers into giving them easier tasks.

The Truth About Trust — Full Chapter Overview

The Truth About Trust Summary & Overview

The Truth About Trust (2014) not only explores what trust exactly means, but also how it impacts almost every single aspect of our everyday lives. The author’s own extensive research and progressive experiments from the fields of psychology, economics and biology reveal the surprising ways in which trust deeply matters.

Who Should Listen to The Truth About Trust?

  • Anyone interested in the the crucial role trust plays in the psychology of relationships
  • Anyone who wants to learn how they can better detect another person’s trustworthiness
  • Anyone wondering about the origins of social emotions like trust

About the Author: David DeSteno

Professor David DeSteno directs the Social Emotions Research Group at Northeastern University. He also co-authored Out of Character, a Wall Street Journal psychology bestseller.

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