#agreeableness

#agreeableness

In personality psychology, trust is understood as a facet of agreeableness, the Big Five personality trait that describes how we tend to relate to other people. Specifically, trust reflects how willing someone is to assume good intent, share information, and rely on others. What many people don't realize is that trust, like other personality traits, is malleable. Not only that, you can take a proactive role in becoming more trusting.

You might say that people who are agreeable are not only kind but also able to zero in on the emotional needs of others. Step one in being kind does seem to need this ability to empathize. According to North Dakota State University's (NDSU's) Michael Robinson and colleagues (2025), unlike the other FFM traits, agreeableness has an emotional component. In their words, "trust, warmth, compassion, and friendliness... seem to require a feeling component to be enacted successfully."