Standard survey measures of generalized trust actually gauge perceived decency, not trust
Evidence
One might argue that the first two of these questions are not really about trust but about the elemental decency of “most people,” not about their actual—trusting or nontrusting—relationship to anyone in particular. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 889
Categorization
Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims
- XREF: Undermines the generalized-trust literature that abstracts trust from relationships—relevant when assessing whether Saramago’s sudden blindness is a test of generalized or relational trust.
Related
- Imprecise survey questions manufacture the illusion of generalized trust (similarity 0.84)
- Survey measures of generalized trust are misdescribed artifacts of vague questions. (similarity 0.84)
- Survey trust questions conflate encapsulated-interest trust with generalized trust. (similarity 0.83)
- Most people experience trust as relationship-bound, not generalized (similarity 0.82)
- Survey claims of generalized trust conceal strict contextual limits (similarity 0.82)
- Generalized trust is closer to expectation than to relationship-specific trust (similarity 0.81)
- Generalized trust actually operates with scoped contextual constraints (similarity 0.80)
- Generalized trust is noncognitive and nonrelational by definition (similarity 0.80)
- Survey answers about general trust reflect low-stakes dealings, not deep trust. (similarity 0.80)
- Cross-national trust comparisons measure different questions in each society (similarity 0.80)
- Generalized trust is defined as unspecific trust in strangers (similarity 0.80)
- Apparent trust differences are often just differential risk-taking and learning speed (similarity 0.80)
- Trust is always context-specific, never genuinely generalized (similarity 0.80)
- Survey items on generalized trust necessarily restrict the range of trustable matters (similarity 0.79)
- Most empirical trust research cannot assess relational trust because it omits relationships (similarity 0.79)