Influences of distrust (and trust) on decision making

Our study highlights how distrust can influence decision making under uncertainty. Experiment 1 compared decision makers' behaviors when uncertainty was attributed to benevolent or malevolent sources. We found that compared to those who expected the source of information to help, those who expected the source to attempt to harm them (i) showed a stronger inclination not to respond with a decision and (ii) were more accurate in their decisions, especially when using the reject response. Experiment 2 extended these findings by revealing that participants were more willing to take the advice of people after recounting an experience of distrust, but were more inclined to discount the advice of others after recounting an experience of trust. Taken together, our findings highlight the value of distrust to decision quality.