Trust in Context

This paper examines how Spohn’s Ordinal Conditional Functions, which are used to model belief dynamics, when appropriately adapted and interpreted, can fruitfully model the dynamics of trust. In this framework, trust is defined in terms of lack of trust (trust deficit) which is taken to be a primitive notion. It explores the notion of context sensitive trust, i.e., how in different domains of human interaction, one agent might trust another agent in varying degrees, and suggests the dynamics of such trust. One can judge a man by the company he keeps. Euripides (480 – 406 A.D.)