Do You Trust Me? I Hope More Than Dartmouth Brain Researchers

When I tell you there are researchers who spend too much time doing things that make no sense to get government grant money, would you trust me? I know I don't have an advanced degree, but that's not necessary to detect nonsense. I also don't seek out grant money to make a living doing things most people seem know without a study.

Those Dartmouth brain researchers are at it. They've gone and performed research to discover why people trust. Gee, now that is one of the mysteries of life. I think it's because some people are gullible, like those people who paid for this study. People may want to trust certain members of a profession, like medical doctors. Then people may trust someone because there are individuals who have proven to be trustworthy. So now you have to decide if you trust what I've written or some Dartmouth brain researcher trying to make a living off of grant money. The choice is up to you.

Below are excerpts from the study in bold and my valuable insights are in italics.

Dartmouth researcher sheds light on why people trust

Trust matters whether it's love, money or another part of our everyday lives that requires risk, and a new study by a Dartmouth brain researcher and his collaborators sheds light on what motivates people to make that leap of faith.

Wow. After this type of valuable research what's next? (Sarcasm Alert) Something equally mysterious such as why people cry out in pain when being beaten. How about why most people don't like the smell of flatulence? Or there is also valuable research to be conducted on why some people can't resist the urge to pick their nose. The type of research is certain to lead to a huge percentage of the population becoming mentally healthy and well adjusted, but only if they trust the finding of the studies.

In the new study, participants thought they were playing an economic investment game with a close friend, a stranger or a slot machine. In reality, they were playing with a simple algorithm that reciprocated trust 50 percent of the time. The researchers developed a computational model that predicted each player's decision for each round given their previous experiences in the game.


Now if this just doesn't shed a bright light on human behavior and trust. (Sarcasm Alert) When you combine investment games with trust reciprocating algorithms and slot machines, who could have any doubts about the value of  such a study? I say if you want a clear picture of the concept of trust, then do a study where you lie to people and tell them they're playing a game with a friend, stranger or slot machine. If you lie to them about the experiment, and they trust you're telling the truth, that's also a lesson. It speaks volumes about trust, society and how these studies get funded. I guess Dartmouth brain researchers believe they couldn't get the research results or grant money by being honest. Maybe their next study should be why people struggle to trust Dartmouth brain researchers.

Results showed that participants found positive interactions with a close friend more rewarding than interactions with a stranger or slot machine, and that the researchers' "social value" model predicted participants' investment decisions better than models that only considered financial payoffs. Neuroimaging also showed that specific brain signals -- in the ventral striatum and medial prefrontal cortex -- correlated with social value signals when the participants made their decisions.

Is it me or does this conclusion fall under the heading of common sense? Are there people who say “I know you're my friend, but I just have more trust for a stranger.” What kind of relationship would this be considered? Probably better than one where a person says “I know you're my friend, and you are a human, but I just have more trust for this slot machine.”

"These findings show the importance of social relationships in how we make everyday decisions and specifically how relationships can change our perceived value associated with a given decision," says co-author Luke Chang, an assistant professor in Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth. "This is a very important finding as most macroeconomic models of individual decision-making are based solely on financial rewards and strongly influence policy decisions. Our findings also provide a new method to test computational models using brain imaging data, which might be useful for studying amorphous concepts such as trust and reciprocity."

I want to tell Luke Chang that words like “macroeconomic models of individual decision-making” only have value to people who can't comprehend the concept of common sense. I also would like to point out that testing computational models using brain imaging data only benefit the computer industry and those gullible enough to believe it. Who knew that trust and reciprocity are considered amorphous concepts? I had a girlfriend I once considered an amorphous concept. I think that's why she dumped me. In conclusion, I would like to say that I don't believe in this study. They didn't earn my trust. Now, research that one Dartmouth.