2021 Honors Thesis: Yuqi Wang

Name:

Yuqi Wang

Title of Thesis:

The Relationship between the Availability Heuristic and Trust in the Lens of the Black Lives Matter Movement

Committee:

Kelli Lanier, Kaiji Chen, Wesley Longhofer (Goizueta Business School)

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of the availability heuristic on trust levels between different ethnic groups in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement. Seventy-eight students of different ethnicities participated in two treatments of the trust game, during which one treatment group was reminded of the BLM movement through a questionnaire before playing. The amount of endowment sent and returned during the game is used to understand the extent to which trust and trustworthiness levels between ethnic groups change, if at all, when participants recall the BLM movement at different levels of ease. Results show that trust levels are higher when an individual can recall the BLM movement with greater ease. Trust and trustworthiness are higher between individuals of different ethnicities.