Trust

Yesterday at a conference, I learned about a new research finding: facial resemblance promotes trust. The research is pretty cool: an image of a person (whom the subject can choose to do business with) is morphed either with the subject’s own face or with someone else', and it is shown that faces that are morphed with one's own generate more trust and the subjects are more likely to accept the offers made by these "people". Someone in the audience asked an interesting question: Is this because people trust others who look like themselves, or, is it because people trust others who look like their parents who look like themselves? The presenter said that the current research cannot answer that, but apparently new research can be conducted on people who were adopted.

This raises some very intersting questions. Does a person simply trust people whom he grows up with, no matter what he looks like himself? How important is the person's own appearance/genes in generating trust? For example, for children who were adopted by partents from other cultures or races, who would they trust more: people that look like themselves or their parents? Common sense seems to tell us that one's own appearance is not superfluous. Otherwise, inter-racial, inter-cultural adoptions would not attract more attention than other adoptions. I once heard on NPR about this topic, and remembered an African-American girl adopted by white parents talking about the special challenges she faced growing up.

So the question itself: whether people trust others who look like themselves or their parents, may need to be revised. The very fact that one looks like his/her parents (or not) may play an important role in shaping a person, including his/her ability to trust others. Growing up, every person asks, and needs to answer, this question: "Who am I?" This is part of establishing one's identity. In this process, one inevitably notices whether he/she resembles his/her parents. If not, it will be more difficult for the kid to find his/her identity.

Another observation may also be illuminating. Many of my friends, who are also Chinese living in the US, told me that their kids often have friends from all races and backgrounds in kindergarten, but by the time they go to high school, their friends are much more likely from similar background (Asian Americans). This is probably because having friends with similar backgrounds is part of establishing one's identity; and these friends may in turn reinforce the identity.

After all, "know oneself" is the ultimate task for each one of us. And as one comes to know oneself, including one's appearance, one may start to reexamine one's relationships with others including parents, friends, and strangers.