Acting on mistaken assumptions about reputation can still yield trust

Evidence

Of course, some people might tend to rely on others’ reputations inductively as though reputations were merely evidence about their dispositions for trustworthiness, as they might be. Even if that is false, however, their reliance on positive reputations as evidence of trustworthy dispositions may lead them to take risks with those whose reputations are positive. That will be sufficient for a forward-looking person with an established reputation to gain new partners for beneficial exchanges and other interactions. In this case, following a wrong theory can take us in the right direction. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 636

Categorization

• APHORISMS: ‘Following a wrong theory can take us in the right direction’ is a compressed pragmatic life-wisdom — the belief in reputations as dispositions is false yet functional.
• XREF: connects to: A model’s false assumptions can still yield correct predictions through a different mechanism. — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 244