THE TRUTH ABOUT TRUST

Based on the pioneering research from David DeSteno's own lab, this book provides first evidence of how and why trustworthiness can be accurately assessed.

Can I trust you? It’s the question that strikes at the heart of human existence. Whether we’re talking about business partnerships, romantic relationships, child-parent bonds, or the brave new world of virtual interaction, trust, when correctly placed, is what makes our world spin and lives flourish.

Renowned psychologist David DeSteno brings together the latest research from diverse fields, including psychology, economics, biology, and robotics, to create a compelling narrative about the forces that have shaped the human mind’s propensities to trust. He shows us how trust influences us at every level, from how we learn, to how we love, to how we spend, to how we take care of our own health and well-being. Using cuttingedge research from his own lab, he also unlocks, for the first time, the cues that allow us to read the trustworthiness of others accurately.

Appealing to readers of Dan Ariely, Dan Gilbert, and David Eaglemen, The Truth About Trust offers a new paradigm that will change not only how you think about trust, but also how you understand, communicate, and make decisions in every area of your life.

From David DeSteno's profile:

"My research programs center on the multiple roles played by emotion in the human experience.
Why do we have specific emotions? What biological and social functions do they serve? How and at what levels do emotions shape the mind and behavior? These are the basic questions that guide emotion-related research in my lab. I view discrete emotions as generally adaptive phenomena that function in a reciprocal system involving cognition and behavior. As such, emotions both guide, and are themselves influenced by, our thoughts and actions. Like most adaptive mechanisms, however, emotions may also lead to non-optimal or biased outcomes given certain contingencies. In an effort to understand the multiple roles played by the emotion system in human behavior, my colleagues and I are examining how emotions are shaped by and act upon many psychological phenomena that are of central importance to the human species. Current research focuses on the common and distinct influences of discrete emotions on various conscious and nonconscious cognitive and decision processes (e.g., risk assessment, attitude change, prejudice, moral judgment) and on the evolved and culturally-shaped characteristics and manifestations of social emotions (e.g., gratitude, jealousy, pride)."

DAVID DESTENO is a professor of psychology at Northeastern University, where he directs the Social Emotions Group. A fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and editor in chief of the American Psychological Association’s journal Emotion, he is the author, with Piercarlo Valdesolo, of Out of Character (Random House, May 2011). DeSteno earned his PhD from Yale University and has written for publications including the New York Times and Boston Globe. He lives in Massachusetts.