Increased trust means friendlier communities, better health

According to the latest General Social Survey, Americans trust each other a whole lot less than they did when the poll was first taken 40 years ago – only about one-third of the population. Experts say this is having an adverse effect on everything from the way our government runs to our health. The good news, however, is that we have the collective capacity to reverse this trend.

“When trust is low, the way we react and behave with each other becomes less civil,” said Purdue University political scientist, April Clark, in a recent AP article. “It’s like the rules of the game.” A few minutes spent watching the evening news, reading online posts or listening to a political talk show is enough to confirm her analysis.

Distrust can also be seen in things like huge gated communities, corruption in business, and endless legal contracts that aim to address every imaginable eventuality.

It may also result in poorer health.

A couple of years ago, Eileen Bjornstrom, a sociology professor from the University of Missouri, found that those who trusted their neighbors also reported better health on average. The kicker, however, was that those with a higher relative income were more likely to distrust their neighbors.

“If affluent individuals are less likely to trust their poorer neighbors,” wrote Bjornstrom in her report, “it could be beneficial to attempt to overcome some of the distrust that leads to [increased stress and] poor health.”

That may be easier said than done.

According the AP article, our trust levels max out by our mid-twenties, unless some major world event like the World Trade Center bombing creates a reason to come together. We also spend less time engaged in civic activities and a lot more hours at home in front of the computer or watching TV. Facebook and Twitter notwithstanding, opportunities to build trust based on repeated real life interactions seem to be fewer and farther between.

Some suggest that the very same technologies that have driven us apart can be used to draw us together – think Skype, Apple FaceTime and Google+ Hangouts. But even the most advanced forms of communication or the most inspired civic engagement can’t replace the necessary shift in thought that enables us to see in others the same level of trustworthiness that we (hopefully) see in ourselves.

The secret to such a shift can be found in the wisdom of such personalities as Epictetus, Confucius and Jesus who, like so many other philosophical and religious leaders over the past couple millennia, have propounded some variation on the familiar “do unto others as ye would have them do unto you.”

Unlike conventional wisdom that generally encourages a wait and see approach, this so-called “Golden Rule” suggests that trust doesn’t begin with what the other guy has done – or what you might expect him to do – but with what you feel impelled, even divinely inspired, to do to him. In other words, trust begets trust.

The beauty of this approach is that it can be applied in any situation, online or in person, and could very well lead to a whole host of improvements – more civil government, less corruption, friendlier communities and even better health.

As hard as that may be to believe, it’s at least worth giving a try.

Eric Nelson has been published and featured in numerous newspapers, online publications, and radio talk programs. He speaks from years of experience in the mind-body field, especially as it relates to health. In addition, he is the media and legislative spokesperson for Christian Science in Northern California and is a self-employed Christian Science practitioner. He’s also a huge baseball fan and loves riding his bike in the nearby Santa Cruz Mountains. You can find him at www.norcalcs.org.