Gen(d)eralized Trust : An Experimental Approach to Interpersonal Trust and Gender Sensitivity

Summary, in English

In this research note, the authors examine the extent to which one gender is more
trusted than the other, relying on between-subjects survey experiments fielded in
Germany, Norway and the United States. The authors’ findings reveal that respondents
have substantially higher trust in women than in men, and that this is partly driven
by gender role beliefs ascribing prosocial behavior more to women. Furthermore,
across countries it is particularly trust in men that differs; trust in women is much
more similar. The findings provide important insights into the sources of trust and
why generalized trust differs between countries; they advance our understanding of
how we relate to particular others and also groups of people with different ratios of
men/women