Personality Affects Dispositional Trust and History-Based Trust in Different Ways

Abstract

Keeping an appropriate level of trust in automated driving (AD) is critical to safe driving. Although ample studies have investigated factors affecting trust in AD, few studies have investigated whether the personality of drivers influences the trust in AD system. Considering that trust measured at a given point in time lies on a continuum between dispositional and history-based trust, the current research investigated the relationship between driver’s personality and dispositional as well as history-based trust. We revealed that personality affected the two types of trust in different ways: A significant negative correlation emerged between Neuroticism and dispositional trust of AD (Study 1), whereas a significant negative correlation between Openness and history-based trust was found when participants interacted with the AD system (Study 2). These results suggest that drivers’ personality has an impact on the trust in AD, which is further modulated by the experience of driver’s interaction with the AD system.