Twenty-ish minute talk on fostering trust and trustworthiness for the International Astronomical Union Office for Astronomy Outreach.

1. This material is based upon
work supported by the National
Science Foundation (NSF, Grant
AISL 1421214-1421723. Any
opinions, findings, conclusions,
or recommendations expressed
in this material are those of the
authors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the NSF.
Three Questions about
Trust and Trustworthiness
John C. Besley
Ellis N. Brandt Professor
Communication Arts and Sciences
Michigan State University
Twitter: @Johnbesley … Slides will be shared on slideshare.com
One in four Americans unaware
that Earth Circles the Sun

2. My goal:
I would like to help you think
in scientific, sophisticated, and specific
ways about trust as ‘people perceptions’
(a.k.a.: trustworthiness/fairness beliefs, relationship factors, reputation, etc.)

3. How familiar, if at all, are you with research on trust and
trustworthiness, including the dimensionality of trustworthiness?
ⓘ Start presenting to display the poll results on this slide.

4. My goal:
I would like to help you think
in scientific, sophisticated, and
specific ways about trust
(a.k.a.: trustworthiness/fairness beliefs, relationship factors, reputation, etc.)

5. The three questions
1. Why do ‘people perceptions’ matter?
2. How do you want to be perceived?
3. What can you do to ethically (re)shape perceptions?
Behavioral
Goals
Communication
Objectives
Tactics

6. The goal question:
Why do ‘people perceptions’ matter?
a) We tend to pay more attention to
people we see as trustworthy
(i.e., we see them as credible);
b) We tend to cooperate with people and
accept decisions when made by people
we see as trustworthy and fair; and
c) People tend to share insight with
people they see as trustworthy and fair
[Note: These are all behavioral-ish and they
all involve making oneself vulnerable]
1.

7. The goal question:
Why specificity about ‘people perceptions’?
Would you prefer a
chef who knows the
difference between
various green herbs?
Specificity about
problems allows
specificity about
potential solutions
1.
Danielle Walquist Lynch, Fresh Herbs, via Flickr Creative Commons

8. 2.
The communication objectives question:
How do you want to be perceived?

9. The communication objectives question:
How do you want to be perceived?
Honest Caring Willing to listen Similar Competent
Smile, eparles; Listen, Montse PB; Charlotte, Sisters 4; Lindsay Bremer, Lamu Kenya: Stonetown Academy Suggestion Box, State Farm, Graduation & Safe Driving, all via Flickr Creative Commons
2.
[Together, these constitute ‘trustworthiness’/’fairness’]

10. The communication objectives question:
How do you want to be perceived?
Honest Caring Willing to listen Similar Competent
Smile, eparles; Listen, Montse PB; Charlotte, Sisters 4; Lindsay Bremer, Lamu Kenya: Stonetown Academy Suggestion Box, State Farm, Graduation & Safe Driving, all via Flickr Creative Commons
2.
[Together, these constitute ‘trustworthiness’/’fairness’]
Meyer, Davis, & Schoorman’s
Integrative Model of Organizational Trust
(+ Research on Procedural Fairness and Identity)

11. Don’t get stuck on the words …
Meyer, Davis, & Schoorman’s
Integrative Model of Organizational Trust
(+ Research on Procedural Fairness)
a.k.a. expertise, competence, etc.
a.k.a. caring, warmth, goodwill, etc.
a.k.a. honesty, trustworthiness, etc.
+ many ‘trustworthiness’ words and tactics overlap
+sub-dimensions … makes translation hard
a.k.a. credibility
(confidence? reputation?)

12. 2018 Gallup/Wellcome
Trust World Monitor
USA
Japan
We can do better.
Especially when it comes
to non-competence-based
trustworthiness beliefs.

13. See also: Hendriks, F., Kienhues, D., & Bromme, R.
(2015). Measuring laypeople’s trust in experts in a digital
age: The Muenster Epistemic Trustworthiness Inventory
(METI). PLoS ONE, 10(10), e0139309.
+ Research by Pew, Wellcome Trust/Gallup, Edelman, 3M
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Trust-Direct (4 var.)
Trust-Willing. to be vulern. (3 var.)
Openness (8 var.)
Benevolence (5 var.)
Integrity (8 var.)
Ability (5 var.)
GM Food General
We can do better.
Especially when it comes
to non-competence-based
trustworthiness beliefs.

14. The communication tactics question:
What can you do to (re)shape perceptions?
Honest Caring Willing to listen Similar
How could you act?
(Procedures, Timing, Setup, etc.)
What could you say?
(Messages)
How could say it?
(Tone, Style)
Who should say it?
(Source)
What formats?
(Channel, group size, etc.)
Smile, eparles; Listen, Montse PB; Charlotte, Sisters 4; Lindsay Bremer, Lamu Kenya: Stonetown Academy Suggestion Box, State Farm, Graduation & Safe Driving, all via Flickr Creative Commons
3.

15. What can you do to be
perceived as willing to listen?
Willing to listen
How could you act?
(Procedures, Timing, Setup, etc.)
Are you modeling respectful listening?
Did you leave enough time so people don’t worry about taking up time?
What could you say?
(Messages)
Do leaders describe how past listening has helped?
Do leaders regularly re-iterate specific commitments?
How could say it?
(Tone, Style)
How often to you use jargon that excludes?
To what degree are demonstrating empathy?
Who should say it?
(Source)
Do you have people tasked with bringing quiet people into discussions?
Do you have people tasked with introducing people (i.e., a host)?
What formats?
(Channel, group size, etc.)
Are you allowing people to share views in multiple ways?
Does the technology/channel enable dialogue?
Smile, eparles; Listen, Montse PB; Charlotte, Sisters 4; Lindsay Bremer, Lamu Kenya: Stonetown Academy Suggestion Box, State Farm, Graduation & Safe Driving, all via Flickr Creative Commons
3b.

16. The communication tactics question:
What can you do to be perceived in that way?
Honest Caring Willing to listen Similar
How could you act?
(Procedures, Timing, Setup, etc.)
What could you say?
(Messages)
How could say it?
(Tone, Style)
Who should say it?
(Source)
What formats?
(Channel, group size, etc.)
3.
But you can’t
prioritize
everything

17. The implementation question:
What should you do next?
4.
JCB: What’s your goal?
Communicator: “We want to fight mistrust in science?
How do they currently
perceive your integrity,
motivations, openness,
values, and abilities?
(And what do you know
about their character?)
Who specifically do you
think would behave
differently if they trusted
you more?
(And in what way would
they behave differently)
How would you like them to
perceive your integrity,
motivations, openness,
values, and abilities?
(And are you all those things?)
(The goal questions) (The objectives questions)

18. The implementation question:
What role for astronomers in building trust?
4.
Individuals:
• Be the people you want to be (while sharing your efforts)
• Ask for communication help
Organizations/Leaders:
• Make sure you’re being realistic about your character
• Collectively decide what perceptions you want to prioritize
• Collective decide on tactics to advance priorities
• Ensure someone is responsible for implementing priorities
• Identify and support for professional science communicators