2026-10-07T16:36:10Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33916897 2026-09-18T00:48:47Z category_30409 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

<b>Defaults and Boundary Conditions of Initial Trust in Face and Avatar–Nickname Cues</b> Wenjie Wu (12101144) Social psychology Interpersonal trust (IPT) <p dir="ltr">Trust at zero acquaintance is often high, yet its mechanisms remain debated. Simion and Willard-Kyle (2024) proposed a "default entitlement to trust" hypothesis, but it lacks empirical scrutiny. This study examined whether default trust operates across trust perception and behavior, generalizes across face and avatar-nickname cues, and is defeasible by diagnostic cues. Four studies with college students were conducted. Studies 1 and 2 used a 2 (cue type) × 3 (trustworthiness ratio: high, low, control) between-subjects design, measuring trust perception and trust behavior via the trust game. Studies 3a and 3b added a cue-availability task allowing free viewing of diagnostic information. Results showed that trust perception and behavior were significantly above baseline in control and high-trust-ratio groups, while the low-trust-ratio group showed moderate perception and no significant investment attenuation. In Study 3a, negative diagnostic cues pushed low-trust perception below midpoint; in Study 3b, low-trust investment dropped below control but remained above zero. Cue-viewing exceeded 80%. No cue-type effect emerged except in Study 3b, where avatars elicited higher investment. Default trust operates robustly across perception and behavior and generalizes across cue types. Diagnostic cues can revise but not eliminate it, revealing a "defeasible yet residual" adaptive boundary, empirically supporting the default entitlement to trust hypothesis.</p> 2026-09-18T00:48:47Z Dataset Dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.33916897.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/_b_Defaults_and_Boundary_Conditions_of_Initial_Trust_in_Face_and_Avatar_Nickname_Cues_b_/33916897 CC BY 4.0