Pre-Conscious Assessment of Trust: A Case Study of Financial and Health Care Web Sites

Abstract

The goal of this study was to determine the reliability of pre-conscious trust assessments of web sites. Participants in Experiment 1 (n=72) viewed 50 screenshots of popular financial and health care home pages in a random order in two separate trials. Each screenshot was presented for 50ms, followed by a mask for 150ms, followed by an assessment of trust on 9-point semantic differential scale from distrust to trust. Results from a series of Pearson Product Moment Correlations showed that approximately one-half of the participants were consistent in their trust assessments for the same web sites across trials. The correlation between trust assessments on the first and second trials, averaged across all participants was statistically significant (p<.001). Results from Experiment 2 (n=11), utilizing a different method for participant participation, showed a similar pattern of results. These findings suggest that pre-conscious mind plays a more significant role in assessing trust than previously believed.