A Yin and Yang Perspective on the Trust Game: Trust and Reciprocity

Dear Colleagues,

Trust and reciprocity—complementary, interconnected, and interdependent on one another—are omnipresent in cooperative exchange and, therefore, fundamental for the stability of human society. Researchers across different disciplines—including economics, psychology, and recently neuroscience—have employed variants of the trust game to empirically measure individual differences in trust and reciprocity. However, dilemmas of trust and reciprocity as measured with one- or multi-shot versions of this two-person monetary exchange game display very similar behavioral, psychological, and neural signatures, making it particularly challenging to separate these two concepts. Systematic research is needed to clarify the commonalities and differences between these two interrelated prosocial behaviors.

This Special Issue invites researchers and scholars from diverse backgrounds to contribute original experimental, methodological, review, meta-analytical, or theoretical papers that shed light on our understanding of trust and reciprocity derived from behavioral, psychological, or neural measures collected with the trust game. Pressing, relevant, and timely research contributions are welcome that explore, for example, psychological functions (motivation, affect, and cognition), social preferences and norms, attitudes to risk and aversion, personality traits, and gender and cultural factors—determining commonalities and differences of trust and reciprocity. This unique collection of papers will facilitate, broaden, and improve the ecological validity of the trust game as a prolific instrument in the scientist’s toolbox for understanding the interrelatedness of trust and reciprocity.

Prof. Dr. Frank Krueger
Guest Editor

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