Development and Perception of Trust in On-Line Relationships

As the Internet becomes a more important component of our daily lives, more and more people are meeting each other on-line. Internet dating services have become tremendously popular, and many couples are acknowledging that they found one another in cyberspace. Yet on-line relationships pose unique challenges; false identities are easy to create and difficult to verify.

Melanie Green of the University of Pennsylvania is conducting a study to discover what role trust plays in on-line interactions and what factors contribute to its development. Green proposes that trust in on-line interactions is determined by three factors: (1) objective qualities of the interaction, like frequency of contact and length of relationship; (2) perceptions of the other person; and (3) psychological predisposition to trust. The first phase of Green’s project is an exploratory survey of individuals who have formed relationships on-line. She will ask respondents about how often they interact with on-line partners, what they discuss, if they have talked on the phone or have met face to face. The survey will also attempt to identify the extent and nature of the trust involved to see if the level of on-line trust correlates with trust displayed in the other areas of the individual’s life. After examining the survey results and determining which factors are likely to be important in developing trust in an on-line interaction, Green will develop a series of vignettes that will be presented to subjects in an experimental setting.