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Honest signalling in trust interactions: smiles rated as genuine induce trust and signal higher earnings opportunities

Author

Listed:
  • Samuele Centorrino

    (SBU - Stony Brook University [SUNY] - SUNY - State University of New York)

  • Elodie Djemaï

    (LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Astrid Hopfensitz

    (TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Manfred Milinski
  • Paul Seabright

    (TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

We test the hypothesis that smiles perceived as honest serve as a signal that has evolved to induce cooperation in situations requiring mutual trust. Potential trustees (84 participants from Toulouse, France) made two video clips averaging around 15 seconds for viewing by potential senders before the latter decided whether to ‘send' or ‘keep' a lower stake (4 euro) or higher stake (8 euro). Senders (198 participants from Lyon, France) made trust decisions with respect to the recorded clips. If money was sent to the trustee, stakes were tripled and trustees could decide to keep all, two thirds or one half of the tripled stakes. Clips were further rated concerning the genuineness of the displayed smiles. We observe that smiles rated as more genuine strongly predict judgments about the trustworthiness of trustees, and willingness to send them money. We observe a relation between costs and benefits: smiles from trustees playing for higher stakes are rated as significantly more genuine. Finally, we show that those rated as smiling genuinely return more money on average to senders. An increase of one standard deviation in rating of smile genuineness is associated with an unconditional expected gain of about one dollar and thirty cents to senders in the two trials of the experiment. Potential gains for senders could be significantly increased from taking smiles rated as genuine into account.

Suggested Citation

  • Samuele Centorrino & Elodie Djemaï & Astrid Hopfensitz & Manfred Milinski & Paul Seabright, 2015. "Honest signalling in trust interactions: smiles rated as genuine induce trust and signal higher earnings opportunities," Post-Print hal-01518371, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01518371
    DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.08.001
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Zylbersztejn, Adam & Babutsidze, Zakaria & Hanaki, Nobuyuki, 2020. "Preferences for observable information in a strategic setting: An experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 268-285.
    2. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/3r19808hvq8dlb97k36cbcqihj is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Zakaria Babutsidze & Nobuyuki Hanaki & Adam Zylbersztejn, 2019. "Digital Communication and Swift Trust," SciencePo Working papers Main halshs-02050514, HAL.
    4. Hopfensitz, Astrid & Mantilla, César, 2023. "Smiles behind a mask are detectable and affect judgments of attractiveness, trustworthiness, and competence," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    5. Zakaria Babutsidze & Nobuyuki Hanaki & Adam Zylbersztejn, 2020. "Nonverbal content and swift trust: An experiment on digital communication," Working Papers halshs-02483343, HAL.
    6. Adam Zylbersztejn & Zakaria Babutsidze & Nobuyuki Hanaki, 2021. "Predicting trustworthiness across cultures: An experiment," Post-Print hal-03432600, HAL.
    7. Zakaria Babutsidze & Nobuyuki Hanaki & Adam Zylbersztejn, 2021. "Nonverbal content and trust: An experiment on digital communication," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(4), pages 1517-1532, October.
    8. Emin Karagözoğlu & Ümit Barış Urhan, 2017. "The Effect of Stake Size in Experimental Bargaining and Distribution Games: A Survey," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 285-325, March.
    9. Hopfensitz, Astrid & Mantilla, Cesar, 2019. "Emotional expressions by sports teams: An analysis of World Cup soccer player portraits," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 75(PB).
    10. Fischbacher, Urs & Hausfeld, Jan & Renerte, Baiba, 2022. "Strategic incentives undermine gaze as a signal of prosocial motives," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 63-91.
    11. Chen, Daniel & Hopfensitz, Astrid & van Leeuwen, Boris & van de Ven, Jeroen, 2019. "The Strategic Display of Emotions," Discussion Paper 2019-014, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    12. Billur Aksoy & Catherine C. Eckel & Rick K. Wilson, 2018. "Can I Rely on You?," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-14, October.
    13. Leonie Gerhards & Michael Kosfeld, 2020. "I (Don't) Like You! But Who Cares? Gender Differences in Same-Sex and Mixed-Sex Teams," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(627), pages 716-739.
    14. Non, Arjan, 2018. "Training participation and the role of reciprocal attitudes," ROA Research Memorandum 005, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    15. Ginny Seung Choi & Virgil Henry Storr, 2018. "Market institutions and the evolution of culture," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 243-265, December.
    16. Kosfeld, Michael & Essl, Andrea & Von Bieberstein, Frauke & Kröll, Markus, 2018. "Sales Performance and Social Preferences," CEPR Discussion Papers 12904, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Dilger, Alexander & Müller, Julia & Müller, Michael, 2017. "Is trustworthiness written on the face?," Discussion Papers of the Institute for Organisational Economics 2/2017, University of Münster, Institute for Organisational Economics.
    18. Du, Ninghua & Song, Fei & Cadsby, C. Bram, 2022. "You cannot judge a book by its cover: Evidence from a laboratory experiment on recognizing generosity from facial information," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    19. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/3r19808hvq8dlb97k36cbcqihj is not listed on IDEAS
    20. J Jobu Babin, 2020. "Linguistic signaling, emojis, and skin tone in trust games," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-14, June.
    21. Dina F Galinsky & Ezgi Erol & Konstantina Atanasova & Martin Bohus & Annegret Krause-Utz & Stefanie Lis, 2020. "Do I trust you when you smile? Effects of sex and emotional expression on facial trustworthiness appraisal," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(12), pages 1-15, December.
    22. Boris van Leeuwen & Charles N. Noussair & Theo Offerman & Sigrid Suetens & Matthijs van Veelen & Jeroen van de Ven, 2018. "Predictably Angry—Facial Cues Provide a Credible Signal of Destructive Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(7), pages 3352-3364, July.

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