Is Trustworthiness Written on the Face?

Discussion Paper of the Institute for Organisational Economics 2/2017

36 Pages Posted: 9 Mar 2017 Last revised: 8 Apr 2017

See all articles by Alexander Dilger

Alexander Dilger

University of Münster

Julia Müller

University of Muenster - School of Business & Economics

Michael Müller

University of Münster

Date Written: February 1, 2017

Abstract

Trust is an important driver of economic transactions, but how do people decide whom to trust? We conduct an experiment to investigate whether people are able to predict trustworthiness by judging the face of a stranger. The behavior of the second player in the Trust Game is used as a measure of trustworthiness. Other subjects assess the trustworthiness of the second players of the Trust Game in the second stage using standardized photos of their faces. We find no significant interrelation in our statistical estimations between trustworthiness ratings and the behavior of the examined players. Surprisingly, players that were rated as more attractive sent back significantly less in the Trust Game.

Keywords: attractiveness, experiment, trust, trustworthiness, Trust Game

JEL Classification: C72, C91, D03, D81, J71

Suggested Citation

Dilger, Alexander and Müller, Julia and Müller, Michael, Is Trustworthiness Written on the Face? (February 1, 2017). Discussion Paper of the Institute for Organisational Economics 2/2017, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2930064 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2930064

Alexander Dilger (Contact Author)

University of Münster ( email )

Institute for Organisational Economics
Scharnhorststr. 100
Münster, D-48151
Germany
+49-251-83-25330 (Phone)
+49-251-83-28429 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.wiwi.uni-muenster.de/io/en/organisation/Dilger.html

Julia Müller

University of Muenster - School of Business & Economics ( email )

Scharnhorststr. 100
Muenster, D-48151
Germany

Michael Müller

University of Münster ( email )

Schlossplatz 2
Muenster, D-48149
Germany

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