A Different Kind of Trust: Cross‐Cultural Evidence of Trust Through Self‐Expansion

ABSTRACT Extending prior research on cultural differences in interpersonal trust, we propose that the relationship between culture and trust is influenced by self‐expansion relative to the trust target. Across three studies with mixed methodologies, we assessed cultural differences in how the nature of the relationship between individuals shapes self‐expansion and interpersonal trust. In Study 1, building on the framework of cultural logics associated with honor, dignity, and face, our analysis of data from the World Values Survey showed that trust varies across cultures depending on the social relationship between trustor and a trustee ( N = 64,167). In Study 2, we demonstrate that cultures differ in the extent to which they report self‐expansion with targets to which they hold different levels of social relationships and that these differences closely match the trust patterns established in Study 1. Finally, in a pre‐registered experimental study, we tie these findings together by showing that cultural norms predict levels of trust through the amount of self‐expansion people report with the trust target in a Trust game. Our research qualifies previous findings on cultural differences in interpersonal trust, especially in so‐called “low trust societies,” and contributes to our understanding of the role of self‐expansion in trust across cultures.