Retraction: Increasing interpersonal trust through divergent thinking

Abstract

A Retraction of the Original Research Article

Increasing interpersonal trust through divergent thinking

by Sellaro, R., Hommel, B., de Kwaadsteniet, E. W., van de Groep, S., and Colzato, L. S. (2014). Front. Psychol. 5:561. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00561 The journal retracts the 06 June 2014 article cited above. This retraction follows the recommendations of an investigation by Leiden University's Committee on Scientific Integrity which found that the paper contained data manipulation that invalidates the study's findings. The retraction has been approved by the Chief Executive Editor of Frontiers. Authors S. van de Groep, E. W. de Kwaadsteniet and R. Sellaro agree to this retraction. Authors L. S. Colzato and B. Hommel do not agree to this retraction. Interpersonal trust is an essential ingredient of many social relationships but how stable is it actually, and how is it controlled? There is evidence that the degree of trust into others might be rather volatile and can be affected by manipulations like drawing attention to personal interdependence or independence. Here we investigated whether the degree of interpersonal trust can be biased by inducing either a more integrative or a more focused/exclusive cognitive control mode by means of a creativity task requiring divergent or convergent thinking, respectively. Participants then performed the trust game, which provides an index of interpersonal trust by assessing the money units one participant (the trustor) transfers to another (the trustee). As expected, trustors transferred significantly more money to trustees after engaging in divergent thinking as compared to convergent thinking. This observation provides support for the idea that interpersonal trust is controlled by domain-general (i.e., not socially dedicated) cognitive states.