The capacity to assess trustworthiness is a skill that yields material advantage.

Evidence

Some writers speak of a greater ability to trust. Typically, they run the likely state of the world—whether those who are trusted will prove trustworthy—into this “ability.” There is a genuine problem in whether I can trust, however, that is independent of the outside world I now face, that depends only on my capacities as developed up to this moment. Suppose there is a reasonable degree of trustworthiness in my present community. Now I can benefit—if I have an adequate capacity to trust, which is the capacity to assess trustworthiness. Someone who lacks such capacity will be a relative loser. More generally, we can give a literal meaning to Roland McKean’s (1975, 29) claim that “greater ability to trust each other to stick with agreedupon rules would save many costs and make life much pleasanter.” — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 537

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the Doctor’s Wife: her retained sight gives her an assessment capacity others lack, making her the relative winner where everyone else is a ‘relative loser.’