Everyday dynamics in generalized social and political trust

- Traits as density distributions of states approach applied to generalized trust.
- State manifestations of generalized trust fluctuate within individuals.
- Within-person variations in social trust predicted by interpersonal conflict.
- Variations in trust in politicians predicted by reception of political information.
- Interindividual differences in social trust and trust in politicians highly stable.

We applied the traits as density distributions of states approach to generalized expectations of trustworthiness, namely, social trust and trust in politicians. Using an experience sampling study (N = 47), we assessed state social trust and trust in politicians four times a day for 2 weeks. Within-person variability was found to be low but meaningful as it was predicted by variations in affect, interactional trust, and prior experiences. There was high stability in interindividual differences in the mean levels of state trustworthiness expectations and in the levels of within-person variability. Our study provides a comprehensive understanding of stability and variability in generalized expectations of trustworthiness and indicates broad applicability of the traits as density distributions of states approach.