# PS & Trust

*Tom Geraghty · Interpersonal Practice, Voice & Silence, Power, Models & Critique*

A thorough examination of why trust and psychological safety are related but not interchangeable, and why the distinction matters in practice. Defines interpersonal trust as a willingness to accept vulnerability based on expectations of another's behaviour (Rousseau et al., 1998), resting on three judgments — ability, benevolence and integrity (Mayer et al., 1995) — which resolve into two dimensions: cognitive trust (belief in competence) and affective trust (belief in care and intention) (McAllister, 1995). The critical departure: trust is personal and individual; psychological safety is a shared property of a group (Edmondson, 1999). We can trust someone completely and still not feel safe to say 'I need help' or 'I disagree.' High cognitive trust can work against challenge: the more we trust someone's expertise, the less we credit our own dissenting read, so the challenge never forms. Trust's dark side includes groupthink, normalisation of deviance, and exploitation finding cover in reduced vigilance (Gargiulo and Ertug, 2006). Reducing psychological safety to trust is a leader-centric move that locates the problem and solution in the warmth of individual relationships rather than in structural incentives and power gradients. What PS actually requires is changing what it costs to speak across the gradient, or changing the gradient itself.

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## Connected concepts (33)

- [An Integrative Model of Organizational Trust](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/mayer-davis-schoorman-1995.md) (paper)
- [Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex Economic Systems](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/ostrom-2010.md) (paper)
- [Calculus of Voice](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/the-calculus-of-voice.md)
- [What is PS?](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/about-psychological-safety.md)
- [Affect- and Cognition-Based Trust as Foundations for Interpersonal Cooperation in Organizations](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/mcallister-1995.md) (paper)
- [High-Quality Relationships, Psychological Safety, and Learning from Failures in Work Organizations](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/carmeli-gittell-2009.md) (paper)
- [How We Respond](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/how-we-respond-matters.md)
- [Managing the Risk of Learning: Psychological Safety in Work Teams](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/edmondson-2002.md) (paper)
- [Not So Different After All: A Cross-Discipline View of Trust](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/rousseau-sitkin-burt-camerer-1998.md) (paper)
- [Psychological Safety, Trust, and Learning in Organizations: A Group-Level Lens](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/edmondson-2004.md) (paper)
- [Psychological Safety: A Systematic Review of the Literature](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/newman-donohue-eva-2017.md) (paper)
- [Cognition-Based and Affect-Based Trust as Mediators of Leader Behavior Influences on Team Performance](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/schaubroeck-lam-peng-2011.md) (paper)
- [Developing and Maintaining Trust in Work Relationships](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/lewicki-bunker-1996.md) (paper)
- [High & Low Context Communication](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/reading-the-air-high-and-low-context-communication-in-teams.md)
- [Not Same for Everyone](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/psychological-safety-isnt-the-same-for-everyone.md)
- [Reducing Power Gradients](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/reducing-power-gradients.md)
- [Silence That May Kill: When Aircrew Members Don't Speak Up and Why](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/bienefeld-grote-2012.md) (paper)
- [The Dark Side of Trust](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/gargiulo-ertug-2006.md) (paper)
- [The Role of Trust in Organizational Settings](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/dirks-ferrin-2001.md) (paper)
- [Trust and Power](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/luhmann-1979.md) (paper)
- [Barriers to PS](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/barriers-to-psychological-safety.md)
- [Betrayal of Trust in Organizations](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/elangovan-shapiro-1998.md) (paper)
- [Contracting & Recontracting](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/contracting-and-recontracting.md)
- [Forced Vulnerability](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/forced-vulnerability.md)
- [PS is Not the Goal](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/psychological-safety-is-not-the-goal.md)
- [Rebuilding PS](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/rebuilding-psychological-safety-when-its-broken.md)
- [The Coevolution of Network Ties and Perceptions of Team Psychological Safety](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/schulte-cohen-klein-2010.md) (paper)
- [Fake It Till You Make It](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/fake-it-till-you-make-it.md)
- [Micromanagement](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/micromanagement.md)
- [PS vs Safe Space](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/psychological-safety-vs-a-safe-space.md)
- [Status and Cockpit Dynamics: A Review and Empirical Study](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/milanovich-driskell-stout-salas-1998.md) (paper)
- [Safety, Stat!](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/safety-stat.md)
- [Newsletter #57: Trust](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/psychological-safety-57-trust.md)