Is trust a zero-sum game? What happens when institutional sources get it wrong.

ABSTRACT: Trust in mainstream institutions is declining while people are increasingly turning to alternative media and conspiracy theories. Previous research has suggested that these trends may be linked, but the dynamics of trust across multiple sources has received little investigation. Is trust a neutral process, where each source is judged independently, is it a zero-sum competition, where a loss for one side is a gain for the other, or does losing trust in one source in foster a more generalized sense of distrust? Across three experimental studies (N = 2,951) we examined how people react when a source makes a serious error, testing four potential models of trust dynamics. We found that regardless of whether the outlet is mainstream, counter-mainstream, or neutral, trust drops for the erring sou

SUBMITTER: Dawson AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12013948 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature