Hi, I'm Severin de Wit, host of the TrustTalk podcast, where we dive deep into the fascinating world of trust. With a genuine passion for understanding the foundations and nuances of trust, I am dedicated to uncovering its secrets and sharing compelling stories that illuminate its profound impact. Join me on this captivating journey as we explore the transformative power of trust. Subscribe now and become part of the TrustTalk community
Hi, I'm Severin de Wit, host of the TrustTalk podcast, where we dive deep into the fascinating world of trust. With a genuine passion for understanding the foundations and nuances of trust, I am dedicated to uncovering its secrets and sharing compelling stories that illuminate its profound impact. Join me on this captivating journey as we explore the transformative power of trust. Subscribe now and become part of the TrustTalk community
In this interview with Moira Dean, Professor in consumer psychology and food security at Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK) we talk about her research into consumer food choices, food safety, food fraud, risk perceptions, and food supply chain management and food labeling.
She did research into consumer behavior during the Covid pandemic.
So around September 2020, we did a survey in ten European countries, Germany, Spain, Finland, UK, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania, Sweden. We sort of chose the country because they were diverse in geography but also diverse in food culture and also different, they experience the effect of pandemic in different ways. And we chose about 500 sort of nationally representative consumers from each of their countries. So it was a survey that was done online. And what we wanted to know is what did people do in terms of their food choices during the pandemic?
Was it the same before the pandemic or have they made some changes? Remember, this is their perception, so it’s not actual behavior, but what they say, what their behaviour is. We measured it on, I think it’s like 22 items in terms of what kind of food, so I’ll give you some examples, dairy produce, fish, meat, poultry. Did you do the same as what you did before? Or did you change? Collected all the data and we asked some other questions as demographic questions who they were. But you also asked other psychographic questions, their intention, their goals towards food and so on. And then we put all their answers together and we found that there were clusters. So there were people who behaved in different ways. So 60% of the people that we collected data from they what we call resilience, so they didn’t change their behaviour, their eating behaviour, consumption behaviour during the pandemic. They carried on from what they were doing before. But there were changes of 40% of the people and they also at 40% they were different behaviours, so 35% of them said that they enjoyed more of the cooking part, they enjoyed the food more in terms of they cooked with their family and they spent more time with the food. But within that there were differences. So there were about 17% who we would call went towards a more healthful, sustainable diet
On food and trust:
We’ve been working on trust for a long time, and I think if you do surveys and ask people, do you trust the food that you buy? Do you trust the producers? You trust the retailers? The trust is reasonably high. But what happens is when there is some sort of problem, so like in the U.K., when we had the beef scandal, when horsemeat was substituted for beef, even though there were no health implications, we soon found out that there were no steroids and stuff that were problematic. But then there were a repercussion in terms of trust about people asked how was it produced? How is it manufactured? Do we know what’s happening and so on. So trust does go up and down depending on what is happening within the context or in the rest of the in terms of the food production. But when it comes to sustainability, I think what’s happening is people want to know more how their food is produced. So is it animal friendly? Are they using pesticides? Are they being good to the workers? So there are extra questions being asked in terms of how the food is being produced, the food that they are being given. Also, there has been a lot of exploratory work done by journalists to look to see and when there are stories about how animals are housed, how they are treated, how they are slaughtered and so on, then people are thinking about how is it going to affect me and do I want animals to suffer for those kinds of things?
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All podcasts are being audio-edited by Job Dijk of Steigerstudios in Veenendaal, The Netherlands
In this 33rd episode of the TrustTalk podcast, we interview Professor Paul Zak. He developed the Immersion Neuroscience Platform, a wearable, and software that uses heart rate to measure oxytocin, the hormone released as people experience feelings of emotional resonance. He found that building a culture of trust is what makes a meaningful difference. Employees in high-trust organizations are more productive, have more energy at work, collaborate better with their colleagues, and stay with their employers longer than people working at low-trust companies. They also suffer less chronic stress and are happier with their lives, and these factors fuel stronger performance.
Oxytocin and his neuroscience research into trust
“So the idea was that there must be some signal, not perfect because evolution doesn’t give us perfection, but something that’s good enough that says this person saved this person not or this person appears to be trustworthy. I can interact with him or her, and if someone is not. And so there was a rich animal literature starting in the late 1970s, showing that a particular neurochemical called oxytocin signals to group living rodents that another rodent appeared to be familiar or safe. And I thought, gosh, that seems like the signal I’ve been looking for to understand how individuals and organizations benefit from having high levels of trust. And so the difficulty there was that in animals, you drill into this skull to sample the chemicals in the brain. I don’t know a lot about humans, but I’m guessing the humans weren’t going to be super excited about me drilling into their heads. So essentially, I’m a tool guy, so I developed a tool or a protocol to measure the human brain, acute production of oxytocin. And then we designed experiments that we thought would induce the brain to make this neurochemical.”
The tool to measure oxytocin, leads to the question: how far can it be pushed? How much stimulus do you need for your brain to make oxytocin? So when you hug someone that will generally cause your brain to release oxytocin or do something nice for you. During the research, Paul and his team started looking at videos and they wonder if you just watch a short ad or video, could oxytocin actually be used to predict what people would do? And the short answer is no, that there’s a host of other neurochemicals and a larger network in the brain that activates, so that allows us to predict when people have a social stimulus, could be a movie, could be a personal interaction, could be a message on Twitter. How will people respond? Can we predict that? In research by Paul and his team, they found this neurologic state he calls immersion, which is a state in which I’m attentive to what’s going on, and oxytocin gives me this emotional connection to it.
About the power of Storytelling
So storytelling is somehow part of our deep human nature, and it is the most effective way to communicate information. And so it’s like the scales fall from your eyes. When you run these experiments, you go, oh holy moly, this is a really effective way. It’s much better than PowerPoint slides or words. Put it on a human scale story with authentic emotions, and then people will care. And I think Severin, that’s about us as social creatures. We are fascinated by other humans. And because of that, if you tell me a story about what humans are doing, fiction or nonfiction, I’m interested. If you can convey that in a way that is interesting to my brain and story structure is about the most effective way to do that.
See also Paul Zak’s article ” The Neuroscience of Trust, Management behaviors that foster employee engagement” in Harvard Business Review (Feb. 2017)
Below is the transcript of the full interview. In the interview, you can read the sentence: “
We looked at a whole bunch of different kinds of content, and we found is that the sort of classical story structure and narrative arc for the well-versed listeners? It’s called the Freitag’s triangle rising action crisis resolution that is almost the most effective way. Almost, I’ll take the almost out. It is the most effective way to induce the brain to actually care about a piece of content. So story structure, storytelling, is somehow part of our deep human nature, and it is the most effective way to communicate information.
For those not familiar with Freytag’s Pyramid: this is how that looks like:
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Your support for our podcast means a lot to us, a small donation helps us to produce more episodes. On this page, you can find a safe and quick way to donate: https://www.trusttalk.co/donate
All podcasts are being audio-edited by Job Dijk of Steigerstudios in Veenendaal, The Netherlands
Today, David Horsager publishes his new book, “Trusted Leader, 8 Pillars That Drive Results“. He writes about and researches the powerful concept of trust all around the world. He heads up the Trust Edge Leadership Institute, where leaders and organizations are helped to become the most trusted in their industry. We asked David what inspired him to write this new book:
I wrote Trusted Leader because most of us are trying to solve the wrong problem. After count-less trainings and hours of implementing new frameworks, nothing produces the results we want to see. We keep trying to find something that will change our culture and our business. But nothing sticks. Why? Because TRUST is at the root of every challenge. Without trust, influence is destroyed. Without trust, leaders lose their people. Without trust, people and businesses fail. Trust can be your most vulnerable weakness or your greatest asset. Trusted Leader is a powerful parable followed by an actionable framework that you can actually use to create an impact on your business and life.
“Trusted Leader” is a business parable and action-able business guide in one. He introduces readers to his Eight Pillars of Trust through the journey of a senior leader who thought success was certain. Follow CEO Ethan Parker as he discovers the power of trust and how to apply it amid the complexities of leadership, change, and culture transformation.
The first half of the book brings you into a true-to-life story of Ethan, a leader who thought success was certain. While his fast-growing organization had huge potential, Ethan faces a series of unexpected challenges which awaken him to a deeper gap in his business. The second half of the book teaches the 8-pillar framework that you can use to solve key challenges in your business. The framework is laid out in an easy-to-use format so that any leader can apply it to their challenges to solve and become a more trusted leader.
What can readers learn from Trusted Leader?
Readers will learn how to solve their biggest challenges, four stages to kickstart trust in their business and life, why trust is at the core of every leadership and organizational challenge, and how to implement trust into their daily life.
David:
“A lack of trust is your biggest expense. Without trust, transactions cannot occur. Without trust, influence is destroyed. Without trust, leaders lose their people. Trust can be either your most vulnerable weakness or your greatest asset.”
The Eight Pillars of Trust (Clarity, Compassion, Character, Competency, Commitment, Connection, Contribution, and Consistency) are based on Horsager’s original research and extensive experience working with Fortune 500 companies and top government agencies around the globe. In addition to the business parable, this book is rich in practical advice for implementing each of the Eight Pillars. You will learn strategies to increase alignment, over-come attrition, and get absolutely clear on executing your top priorities. Horsager offers a road map for how to become the most trusted expert in your industry.
Trusted Leader: 8 Pillars That Drive Results will be available March 30, 2021 on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, WalMart and BookPal for $25.95. For more information on Trusted Leader: 8 Pillars That Drive Results, visit trustedleader-book.com
It feels a bit like a long time ago when we were glued to the radio, doesn’t it? Listening to people via your AirPods to interesting people who have, in their work or practice, experienced the meaning of trust, or, as an academic, have researched the importance of trust, or those who have been confronted with the meaning -or the lack of – of trust.
In 2020 we started the TrustTalk podcast. At the beginning of the new year 2021 we present you an overview of who we interviewed in 2020 and who we will interview for publication on our TrustTalk podcast in 2021. All podcasts are with experts in their respective fields.
Interested to be interviewed on trust as well, or want to suggest a person of interest with strong views on trust? Feel free to contact us and we will discuss opportunities.
Follow us if you like to stay tuned. Thank you for your continuous support!
In sociology, James Coleman (1990) observed that “…a group whose members manifest trustworthiness and place extensive trust in one another will be able to accomplish much more than a comparable group lacking that trustworthiness and trust…In a farming community…where one farmer got his hay baled by another and where farm tools are extensively borrowed and lent, [trust] allows each farmer to get his work done with less physical capital in the form of tools and equipment (p. 304, 307).”
Likewise, in economics, Kenneth Arrow (1972) famously stated that “virtually every commercial transaction has within itself an element of trust, certainly any transaction conducted over a period of time. It can be plausibly argued that much of the economic backwardness in the world can be explained by the lack of mutual confidence (p. 357).” Robert Putnam (2000) in political science has written of trust in a similar regard: “A society that relies on generalized reciprocity is more efficient than a distrustful society, for the same reason that money is more efficient than barter. Honesty and trust lubricate the inevitable frictions of social life (p. 135).”
The news media, like many other major U.S. institutions, has suffered from a decline in public confidence in recent years. A key question for the future of the news media, as well as for U.S. democracy, is whether that trust is lost for good. In a report from the Knight Foundation (“Indicators of News Media Trust“) part of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Trust, Media and Democracy initiative, Gallup asked a representative sample of U.S. adults to discuss key factors that make them trust, or not trust, news media organizations.
The report relies on a variety of research approaches — open-ended questions, closed- ended importance ratings and an experiment — and finds:
Most U.S. adults, including more than nine in 10 Republicans, say they personally have lost trust in the news media in recent years. At the same time, 69% of those who have lost trust say that trust can be restored.
Asked to describe in their own words why they trust or do not trust certain news organizations, Americans’ responses largely center on matters of accuracy or bias. Relatively few mentioned a news organization’s partisan or ideological leaning as a factor.
Accuracy and bias also rank among the most important factors when respondents rate how important each of 35 potential indicators of media trust are to them. Transparency also emerges as an important factor in the closed-ended ratings of factors that influence trust: 71% say a commitment to transparency is very important, and similar percentages say the same about an organization providing fact-checking resources and providing links to research and facts that back up its reporting.
An experimental approach not only showed the importance of accuracy, bias and transparency, but also revealed a complex relationship between partisanship and media trust. Both Republicans and Democrats were less likely to trust news sources with a partisan reputation that opposes their own. However, they did not express much greater trust in news sources that have a reputation for a partisan leaning consistent with their own.
These results indicate that attempts to restore trust in the media among most Americans may be fruitful, particularly if those efforts are aimed at improving accuracy, enhancing transparency and reducing bias. The results also indicate that reputations for partisan leaning are a crucial driver of media distrust, and one that may matter more for people themselves than they realize.
Gallup and Knight Foundation acknowledge support for this research from the Ford Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Open Society Foundations.
Trust, we are dealing with it daily, yet what is it? Can trust be defined? In this podcast we will look into the various meanings people give to ” trust”
To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved (George MacDonald)
A recent Edelman global trust barometer shows that trust in the media declined more than trust in business and government. What does that mean for (trust in) mainstream media?
A most recent example of the repercussions for trust in media appeared on March 12 when Avaaz published a report: Yellow Vests Flooded By Fake News, over 100m views of Disinformation on Facebook”. The key focus of the study is the world’s biggest social media platform Facebook, by far the most popular online network used by the Yellow Vest movement. We examined posts shared by pages, groups and profiles associated with the movement and limited our analysis to posts containing text, images, and videos.
This new in-depth study by the global citizens’ movement Avaaz shows for the first time the unprecedented scale at which the Yellow Vest movement has been impacted by disinformation.
According to its findings, fake news surrounding the French Yellow Vest movement has reached an estimated 105 million views on Facebook alone, in a country with just over 35 million Facebook monthly active users. The research analyzed social media posts over a five month period – between November 2018 and March 2019 – and focused mainly on Facebook, where most of the Yellow Vest social media interaction took place. It took into account the top known 100 fake news stories circulating in the French Yellow Vest movement, all of which were fact-checked by French or international media. The selected stories are mostly malicious, made-up, purposefully misleading or factually incorrect posts. Furthermore, the findings shine a light on the increased efforts from Russian state media, RT France, to fuel the protests.
The research was carried out by a team of investigative reporters, researchers and data analysts set up by the global citizens movement Avaaz to detect and deter disinformation ahead of the European elections. It shows clearly that Facebook and other platforms’ responses to disinformation in Europe are ineffective and pose a serious threat to healthy public discourse and democratic stability, especially in light of upcoming EU elections in May. The report concludes by calling on platforms to work with fact-checkers to Correct The Record for everyone exposed to false or misleading content, as an emergency measure ahead of the elections.
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For the time to come we will cover all aspects of trust. You will be surprised to see how many times you will read, listen and confront “trust”. Read the newspaper, watch TV, follow social media, and believe us, trust has many faces. You trust your doctor, your political party, your friend, your instincts, your gut feeling. Every day. Trust is not something that comes for free, most of the time it requires a lot of effort to gain and once gained, to keep it.
Trust is a life companion whether you like it or not. We will write and podcast about all aspects of trust, in politics, news, media, economics, psychology and daily life, sports and what have you more.
Try us out and listen one day and read just one newspaper and carve the number of times you read or listen the word “trust”. We will help you out. Comments? Feel free to them each and every item we post on Trust Talk). Tips? more than welcome. We will post in English as well as sometimes in Dutch.
