Revisiting the effect of trustworthy face and attractive appearance on trust and trustworthiness behavior

Ziyun Suo, Qinxin Guo and Junyi Shen

Applied Economics, 2025, vol. 57, issue 15, 1740-1760

Abstract: In a trust game experiment with Chinese participants, we investigate the effects of trustworthy faces and attractive appearances on trust and trustworthiness behaviour. The participants played the role of trustor and made decisions on how much money to transfer to their paired trustees while looking at the trustees’ photos presented on a large screen. After that, the trustees decided how much money to return to their paired trustors. Results indicate that trust decisions are influenced by both a trustworthy face and an attractive appearance. In addition, a gender effect on trust decisions was found. Men are more trusting than women are, regardless of whether their counterparts are male or female. However, females are less likely to trust their male counterparts than female counterparts. Finally, it is observed that the trustees with a more attractive appearance are more likely to betray the trust they have, while this is not the case for those with more trustworthy faces.

Date: 2025
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Working Paper: Revisiting the Effect of Trustworthy Face and Attractive Appearance on Trust and Trustworthiness Behavior (2022)
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DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2024.2316119

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