Why do we Trust Chatbots? From Normative Principles to Behavioral Drivers

TL;DR

This paper examines the psychological and normative foundations of trust in chatbots, highlighting how design choices and behavioral biases influence user trust, and proposes reframing chatbots as salespeople to better understand trust dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a behavioral perspective on chatbot trust, emphasizing the influence of interactional design and cognitive biases, and advocates for clearer distinctions between trust types.

Findings

Trust is often shaped by design choices exploiting cognitive biases.

Normative trustworthiness differs from psychological trust formation.

Reframing chatbots as salespeople clarifies trust dynamics.

Abstract

As chatbots increasingly blur the boundary between automated systems and human conversation, the foundations of trust in these systems warrant closer examination. While regulatory and policy frameworks tend to define trust in normative terms, the trust users place in chatbots often emerges from behavioral mechanisms. In many cases, this trust is not earned through demonstrated trustworthiness but is instead shaped by interactional design choices that leverage cognitive biases to influence user behavior. Based on this observation, we propose reframing chatbots not as companions or assistants, but as highly skilled salespeople whose objectives are determined by the deploying organization. We argue that the coexistence of competing notions of "trust" under a shared term obscures important distinctions between psychological trust formation and normative trustworthiness. Addressing this gap requires further research and stronger support mechanisms to help users appropriately calibrate trust in conversational AI systems.