How to evaluate social trust in an individual

The post office scandal in the UK damaged trust in institutions and made it harder to establish trust in personal relationships. Trust is important for empty nest parents seeking new friendships. Trustworthy friends can lead to a longer and healthier life. Evaluating trust in new friends involves considering consistency, integrity, openness, empathy, capability, mutual relationships, and gut feelings. Trust is not only about believing in someone's goodness, but also their competence and reliability. Trust is built over time, so start with caution and gradually increase commitment. It's also important to assess one's own trustworthiness. A free scorecard is available on the website to assess social trustworthiness. Hello, John McGeachy here and welcome to the Insight Post for Sunday 21 January 2024, How to Evaluate Social Trust in an Individual. The post office scandal, one of the most significant mass carriages of justice in the UK, revolved around the Horizing-Fuser system used by post office branches. The system, introduced in 1999, was found to have defects that caused discrepancies in accounts, leading to numerous false accusations of theft, fraud and false accounting. The scandal has done yet more damage to the trust we place in our institutions. Arguably, the damage has also seeped into our social life and establishing confidence in new personal contacts has become more challenging. However, trust is essential, especially for empty nest parents looking to build new friendships and connections to replace their familiar school gate community. And participation in a trustworthy and supportive community can lead to a longer and healthier life. As the New York Times article asks, what are friends for? Answer, a longer life. Evaluating trust in someone you have just met. Here are a few signposts. One, consistency and reliability. Look at the track record of your new friends. Are they consistent in what they say and do? Two, integrity and honesty. Assess whether your friend's actions align with their values and moral compass. Three, openness and communication. Your new friends will communicate openly and not hide important information from you. Four, empathy and compassion. Look for early indications of empathy and compassion, which suggest your friends will be supportive in times of trouble. Five, capability. It certainly helps if you know your friends have the strength, skills and willpower to act when they are required to. Are they radiators or drains? Six, mutual relationships. Trustworthy individuals often have stable and long-term relationships. Do yours. Seven, gut feeling. Remember your instincts. Personal intuition can be a powerful tool in assessing trust. Combining these factors gives you a more rounded view of an individual's trustworthiness. Remember, trust is not just about believing in someone's goodness, but also their competence and reliability in specific areas. Each of these criteria should be weighed according to the context and the nature of the relationship you are evaluating. Remember that trust is strengthened with time, so start steady and gradually increase commitment as trust is established. Of course, friendship is a two-way thing, so remember your newfound friends will make a similar, if less formal, assessment of your trustworthiness. Sure, apply these criteria to your friends, but it's a good idea to apply them to yourself at the same time. And if you want, you can take this quick free scorecard to assess your own social trustworthiness. The link is on my website page.