From: The Huffington Post

The Science of Trusting: How Can You Get Some to Trust You?

The Huffington Post:

When Joshua Prager was 19, he was an accomplished athlete, and proud of his well-trained physique. His young life was full of promise. That was before an out-of-control truck driver, carrying a four-ton load, crashed into his mini-van and left him a hemiplegic. Following 21 years of difficult recovery, Prager, a writer and journalist, decided to return to Israel to seek out the man, Abed, who had changed his life forever. His moving and popular TEDTalk tells the story of that meeting, and raises complicated questions about human trust and forgiveness.

A study from the University of Pennsylvania offers some insight into the psychology of trust — both the violation of trust and its repair. Psychological scientist Maurice Schweitzer has been exploring whether our basic beliefs about moral character influence trust violations and forgiveness. Schweitzer wanted to see if it’s possible to modify those beliefs — and in doing so help people to become more forgiving and more peaceful.

Read the whole story: The Huffington Post

Wray Herbert is an author and award-winning journalist who writes two popular blogs for APS, We’re Only Human and Full Frontal Psychology. Follow Wray on Twitter @wrayherbert.


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