Skepticism, Overreliance, and Everything in Between: Mapping Trust Propensity Archetypes

Abstract

Current approaches to trust in Human-Computer Interaction emphasize measurement but offer limited insight into how trust is established in practice. This study examines how demographic and sociocultural characteristics shape trust propensity through a mixed-methods, cross-cultural design. We combine surveys (N=708) and interviews (N=67) to investigate patterns of trust in facial recognition technology for law enforcement across Mozambique, Brazil, Malaysia, Singapore, Estonia, and Mongolia. The results show that individuals differ not only in how much they trust the technology, but also in how they relate to it. We identify distinct configurations of trust propensity, conceptualized as archetypes. These archetypes illustrate how trust emerges from the interplay between individual characteristics and sociocultural context. Our findings suggest that trust in technology is better understood as a set of configurations rather than a single continuum, highlighting the need for context-sensitive approaches to assessing, interpreting, and calibrating trust.