Acculturation and market integration are associated with greater trust among Tanzanian Maasai pastoralists.

ABSTRACT: Acting on socially learned information involves risk, especially when the consequences imply certain costs with uncertain benefits. Current evolutionary theories argue that decision-makers evaluate and respond to this information based on context cues, such as prestige (the prestige bias model) and/or incentives (the risk and incentives model). We tested the roles of each in explaining trust using a preregistered vignette-based study involving advice about livestock among Maasai pastoralists. In exploratory analyses, we also investigated how the relevance of each might be influenced by recent cultural and economic changes, such as market integration and shifting cultural values. Our confirmatory analysis failed to support the prestige bias model, and partially supported the r

SUBMITTER: Lightner AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10427282 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature