Motivated to trust? Promotion and prevention focus are distinctly related to the tendency to trust others

The present work brings together perspectives from trust and the self-regulation literature to investigate how people’s regulatory focus, a form of self-regulation and motivational orientation, relates to their generalised trust. Regulatory focus theory distinguishes between two different ways that humans can self-regulate and pursue their goals: a prevention orientation (i.e. greater focus on security, ought goals, and a loss-avoidance mindset) and a promotion orientation (i.e. greater focus on growth, ideal goals, and a gain-approach mindset). People usually show a greater tendency towards one of the two orientations which can be assessed via self-reported questionnaire (often referred to as chronic regulatory focus). A secondary analysis of nine correlational studies, combined in a small-scale meta-analysis (N = 6422), revealed a positive relationship between chronic promotion focus and generalised trust, r = .11, 95% CI [.083, .131] and a significantly larger negative relationship between chronic prevention focus and generalised trust, r = −.22, 95% CI [−.237, −.191]. A second, preregistered study (N = 478) replicated these findings on a measure of self-reported generalised trust and on trusting (cooperative) behaviour in a trust game. The present findings further our understanding of the nomological network of generalised trust. They also expand the theoretical boundaries of regulatory focus theory, highlight distinctions between conceptualisations and measures of regulatory focus, and underscore its implications for understanding the social psychological foundations of trust.