Trust and Decision Making: An Empirical Platform (CCP 204)

Abstract

The trust literature emphasizes trust in automation, thus neglecting the interpersonal aspects of how distributed personnel develop trust. Interpersonal trust represents the willingness of individuals to accept vulnerabilities from the actions of others. Vulnerability is critical aspect of trust research, yet few studies have manipulated vulnerability. Non-verbal cues may have an influence on the trust process, suggesting that features of collaborative tools may influence how individuals build trust. The present study will implement a 3times4 mixed design. Participants will select a convoy route based on: 1) graphical displays of enemy zones and historical Improvised Explosive Device (IED) occurrences; 2) route parameters (e.g., fuel required); and 3) information from a local expert. Vulnerability will be manipulated by altering the frequency of IEDs and the location of `red forces' to create low, moderate, and high vulnerability conditions (within subjects factor). Information from local experts will be presented via one of four conditions: 1) audio/video with low emotion; 2) audio/video with high emotion; and 3) audio only; and 4) chat (between subjects factor). Findings from this research will support the development of new collaborative tools for the Command and Control (C2) domain.