Strangers, not cheaters, are the main obstacle to trust.

Evidence

The biggest and most pervasive problem for us in trusting others is not the malign problem of dealing with cheaters but the relatively neutral problem of often having to deal with people with whom we cannot expect to have ongoing relationships in which to ground incentives for trustworthiness. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 788

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

Related

• The main trust problem is lacking ongoing relationships, not dealing with cheaters (similarity 0.86)
• Understanding trustworthiness must precede understanding trust itself (similarity 0.81)
• Deceitful trust, once established, obliges its user into genuine trustworthiness (similarity 0.81)
• Distrust needs less information than trust to form. (similarity 0.81)
• Parasitic cheating thrives where trust is generalized from trustworthy settings (similarity 0.80)
• Apparent trust differences are often just differential risk-taking and learning speed (similarity 0.80)
• Distrust is often the rational default even in good relationships (similarity 0.79)
• Promises typically regulate relations with known people, not strangers (similarity 0.79)
• Trust and trustworthiness are asymmetrical because only trusting carries significant risk of exploitation (similarity 0.79)
• Established trust systems are remarkably robust despite widespread fraud (similarity 0.78)
• Moral characters of trustworthiness can make people trust even against reason. (similarity 0.78)
• Trust is merely evidence-based expectation while trustworthiness is motivational (similarity 0.78)
• A cheater’s success depends on parasitizing a trustworthy system (similarity 0.78)