Trust judgments reduce complexity by fixating on a few salient indicators

Evidence

The reason for this difficulty is that trust and distrust, as we saw, are symbolically transmitted, generalized, attitudes which do not vary with explicitly specifiable, objective causes, but are controlled by subjective processes whereby experience is processed and simplified. And in the simplifying, in the reduction of complexity, there always lies an unstable, incalculable moment. If the question of trust or distrust becomes acute then the situation becomes on the one hand more problematic, more complex, more rich in possibilities. On the other hand, simplifying processes of reduction, of orientation towards a few prominent key experiences, come into play. Objects and events, which appear to have value as indicators, gain special relevance, and control the interpretation of other situations. They capture attention. They become ‘reasons’, ‘proofs’, that trust or distrust is justified. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 274

Categorization

• XREF: This is Luhmann’s core complexity-reduction mechanism, directly feeding the reader’s thesis about system trust reducing social complexity for Stevens. — connects to: 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
• DEFINE: Operationalizes the ‘reduction of complexity’ mechanism that anchors the Luhmann–Giddens–Ishiguro comparative argument.