Animal sensitivity to others’ behavior may explain how trust evolved

Evidence

Even though the study of cooperation in animals seems irrelevant to an understanding of trust in humans, careful analysis of the conditions in which cooperative behaviour is expressed suggests that many animals are exquisitely sensitive to the behaviour of others. This observation suggests an explanation for the evolution of the mental state that we recognize as trust in outselves. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 245

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s Hardin/Luhmann argument: trust rests on monitoring others’ observable behavior, and this passage grounds that in evolutionary continuity from animal sensitivity.