GoodWork Paper 64: From Parents to Presidents: Youth Assessments of Trustworthiness at Home and in the Public Sphere (PDF)

Author(s): John M. Francis

Editor(s): Howard Gardner, Series Editor

Media: PDF

Description: Understanding the role of trust in society has important implications in many arenas, not least of which is the study and promotion of democratic practice and civil society. In light of claims of declining societal trust in the United States, I explore the ways in which youth age 15-25 navigate trust and trustworthiness in their everyday lives. My colleagues and I interviewed 63 youth from New England about their trust dispositions toward a variety of targets, from friends and family to politicians and media figures. Our main interest lay in identifying and understanding the principal “mental models” that youth employ and consider most important when assessing the trustworthiness of others. We explored this interest through two core research questions. First, to what extent do youth use cognitive vs. non-cognitive mental approaches to assessing the trustworthiness of others? Second, in cases where the cognitive approach is used, what type(s) of evidence—appearance, performance, reputation, or interactions—are primarily utilized? Findings suggest a paradox in youth’s conceptions of trust and trustworthiness. On the one hand, youth idealize societal trust in which a generalized sense of trustworthiness permeates relationships between fellow citizens. On the other hand, youth rely heavily, regardless of the target, on a single cognitive “mental model” based on ongoing interactions to assess the trustworthiness of others. An over-reliance on this model, which I call the cognitive-interaction model, may lead youth to abandon altogether the assessment process for distant figures in the public sphere. I argue that a generalized lack of trust in civic leaders and media figures could imperil the future of democratic practice and civil society.