Low Interpersonal Trust Improves Judgments of Moral Character

Drawing on the Realistic Accuracy Model and theories of perceptual vigilance, we predict that people who are less trusting of others are also better at identifying high moral character people. We find support for this prediction using evaluations of customer service providers employed through “TaskRabbit, ” a website that facilitates ad hoc employment for short-term tasks. After watching a brief video testimonial from one of the service providers, participants who were more skeptical of others’ intentions were also more accurate in their appraisal of the service provider’s moral character. Whereas less trusting participants rated high moral character service providers as more hireable than low moral character service providers, trusting participants did not. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding the judgments and role of moral character in everyday peer-to-peer hiring contexts.