Social class and interpersonal trust: Partner's warmth, external threats and interpretations of trust betrayal

Abstract The present research investigated the effects of social class on interpersonal trust. In a series of experiments, we showed how the contextualist socio‐cognitive tendencies of the lower class and the solipsistic tendencies of the upper class were reflected in their trusting attitudes and behaviors. In Study 1 ( N = 491), upper class individuals expressed the same levels of trust towards all partners, while lower class individuals adjusted their trust choices to the affect‐rich information about their interaction partner and trusted warm partners more than cold partners. The results of Study 2 ( N = 210) showed that when threatened, lower class individuals had generally less trusting attitudes, while upper class members were equally trusting as in a neutral situation. Study 3 ( N = 200) revealed that upper class individuals explained a betrayal of their trust with dispositional factors to a higher degree than lower class individuals. We discuss how these differences contribute to perpetuating the disadvantage of the lower class.