People trust less as the stakes of the entrusted matter rise

Evidence

Second, in a point that is related to the first limit, the model ignores the possibility of varied weights of potential interactions. Such variety is implicit in the claim that trust is a three-part relation: A trusts B to do X. In one interaction I might merely trust you to put a quarter in my parking meter, while in another I might trust you to take care of my small child. I might loan you a dollar or a thousand dollars. If there were no correlation between the scale of what is to be entrusted and the likelihood of any person’s trustworthiness in fulfilling the trust, this issue would not matter. In general, however, there must be a correlation. We are likely to be lower trusters for high stakes than for low stakes. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 573

Categorization

• XREF: Connects directly to the reader’s analytical integration of Saramago’s Blindness — trust calibrated by scale of what is entrusted matters for why the doctor’s wife’s small acts sustain order while large failures break chains.