Reputation is a public inference from visible data to hidden disposition

Evidence

We wish to know the sort of person we are dealing with before we deal with him. But we will know it only imperfectly. We form an opinion on the basis of his background, the opportunities he has faced, the courses of action he has taken, and so forth. Our opinion is thus based partly on the theory we hold of the effect of culture, class membership, family line, and the like on a person’s motivation (his disposition) and hence his behaviour. The opinion which is publicly formed and held is this person’s reputation. Our problem in essence is to infer the person’s qualities from such data. This will be the central theme in the remaining sections of this article. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 822

Categorization

• DEFINE: Disambiguates reputation from disposition: reputation is the publicly formed opinion, itself an inference from imperfect observable data.
• XREF: Links to Luhmann’s familiarity/confidence distinction and Hardin’s observability requirement. — connects to: Tracking judgments rest on inferred class and reported data, not measured potential — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 517; Status appraisal works by triangulating a whole package of signals against hard-to-fake cues — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 236