The role of regulatory focus in interpersonal trust

This study examined the influence of regulatory focus on interpersonal trust among strangers. An experimental design was used to test cause and effect relationship between individuals' regulatory foci and their trusting behavior in a subsequent and unrelated domain considering the potential influence of regulatory closure. According to the results, people with a promotion focus (those who were exposed to nurturance need activation) showed higher trusting behavior in an independent domain (trust game) than did individuals with a prevention focus (those who were exposed to security need activation). The other finding is that people whose security needs were satisfied in a completely unrelated domain trusted strangers more than did individuals whose security needs were activated but not satisfied. Findings of the present thesis make an important contribution to the literature by identifying the role of self-regulatory focus, psychological safety and regulatory closure in interpersonal trust in a causal design. Different from the previous studies which have predominantly used less malleable factors to explain trusting behavior among strangers, this study employed a situational variable which allows opportunity for manipulation and adaptation. Taking into consideration the fact that trust among strangers in Turkey is quite low and requires immediate action; in light of the findings of this study, priming individuals with a promotion focus or satisfying salient security and safety needs in a domain unrelated to social interactions could be used to develop policies for improvement of trust in Turkey. Keywords: Regulatory focus, trust, regulatory closure, need satisfaction,activation