By Kanji Usui
In my previous post, I discussed trust-based approaches, but I wanted to summarize what trust actually is at its core.
Regarding "trust," I believe the best-of-the-best resource is From a Society of Safety to a Society of Trust by the late Professor Toshio Yamagishi (Professor Emeritus at Hokkaido University), which I read over 20 years ago.
According to his work, trust has two dimensions:
The expectation of ability—"this person can deliver"—and The expectation of intent—"this person won't betray me"
The critical aspect is the expectation of intent. It's about maintaining that expectation even when you cannot be certain whether the other party will actually betray you or not.
Interestingly, the contrasting concept is "safety," which refers to situations where you're assured because there's a contract in place or a long-standing relationship. However, this is not trust—it's merely a state where uncertainty is suppressed through systems and rules. After all, if you have a guarantee against betrayal, you don't actually need trust in the first place.
What I found particularly fascinating was that Professor Yamagishi's psychological experiments revealed an unexpected finding: people who trust others ≠ naive people. In fact, those who trust others tend to have a sharper ability to read people. By repeatedly expecting, sometimes being let down, and expecting again in uncertain situations, one's discernment is honed.
Trust, then, is not a passive quality but rather a capability—the ability to maintain mutual expectations even amid uncertainty.