The edge of trust: An introduction

This article provides a brief history of the scientific study of interpersonal trust and an overview of the topics covered in this issue. The dynamics of interpersonal trust are an essential part of understanding how people think and act in social interactions. Trust enables human beings to form meaningful personal relationships and engage in mutually profitable social and economic exchanges. For this special issue, the author invited submissions from some of the current experts on the study of interpersonal trust. The first section addresses basic cognitive processes underlying trust. To navigate the complexity of social interaction, people face a fundamental challenge: they must distinguish between trustworthy and untrustworthy interaction partners. The second section of this special issue focuses on how trust relates to decisions involving prosociality and individual risk taking. The contributions to the issue take the reader to the edge of research on trust. It address some of the most pressing questions in this interdisciplinary field of study, and raise important and challenging questions.