The Influence Of College Students' Emotion And Social Value Orientation On Interpersonal Trust

Interpersonal trust is an essential factor in establishing a good interpersonal relationship and plays an important role in developing and maintaining a good social relationship.In recent years,researchers in psychology,sociology,management and other fields have focused on the study of interpersonal trust and its influencing factors,while few scholars have combined the influence of emotion and social value orientation on interpersonal trust.In this study,the influence of emotion and social value orientation on interpersonal trust was investigated by using questionnaire survey and trust game research paradigm.The subjects are 172 undergraduates and 61 postgraduates from a university.This study specifically includes two experiments:Experiment 1 involved 82 undergraduates and 31 postgraduates.This experiment is designed as a three-factor inter-group experiment.The independent variable is emotion 3(positive,neutral,negative)×priming material 2(trust-related,trust-unrelated)× social value orientation 2(pro-social,pro-self).The dependent variable is the trust level(i.e.the investment amounts of the subject).The results show that:(1)There is no significant difference between the investment amounts under the condition of positive emotion and the investment amounts under the condition of negative emotion;(2)The investment amounts of the pro-socials are significantly higher than that of the pro-selves;(3)Under different emotional conditions,there is no significant difference in the investment amounts between pro-socials and pro-selves;(4)Under the condition of positive emotion unrelated to trust,the investment amounts of pro-socials are significantly higher than that of pro-selves.Experiment 2 involved 90 undergraduates and 30 postgraduates.This experiment is designed as a three-factor inter-group experiment.The independent variable is emotion 3(positive,neutral,negative)×priming material 2(trust-related,trust-unrelated)× social value orientation 2(pro-social,pro-self).The dependent variable is the trustworthiness(i.e.the return amounts of the subject).The results show that:(1)There is no significant difference between the return amounts under the condition of positive emotion and the return amounts under the condition of negative emotion;(2)There is no significant difference in the return amounts between pro-socials and pro-selves;(3)Under the condition of positive emotion,there is no significant difference in the return amounts between pro-socials and pro-selves.In the low investment group and the high investment group,under the condition of negative emotion,there is no significant difference in the return amounts between pro-socials and pro-selves.In the middle investment group,under the condition of negative emotion,the return amounts of the pro-socials are significantly higher than that of the pro-selves;(4)Under the condition of negative emotion related to trust,the return amounts of pro-socials are significantly higher than that of pro-selves.According to the two experimental results and analysis,the following conclusions are drawn:1.There is no significant difference in the influence of different kinds of emotions on interpersonal trust;2.The trust level of college students is affected by social value orientation,while the trustworthiness is not affected by social value orientation;3.The interpersonal trust level of college students is not affected by the interaction between emotion and social value orientation;In the case of low investment,the trustworthiness of college students is affected by the interaction between emotion and social value orientation;4.Under the condition of negative emotion,trustworthiness is influenced by social value orientation under certain conditions.