Why We Trust and Why It Matters?

In her talk, Anu Realo discussed her research on social trust within and across nations. Why certain societies are more trusting than others, how does trust influence behaviour, how have levels of social trust changed in Estonia and neighbouring countries over the past three decades.

Anu Realo (PhD) is a personality and cross-cultural psychologist. She is Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Warwick (United Kingdom) and a Visiting Professor at the University of Tartu (Estonia). She is also the Past President of the European Association for Personality Psychology and a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences and the Academia Europaea.

Anu’s research focuses on cultural and individual variation in personality traits, subjective well-being, values, and social capital; she has collaborated widely with researchers from across a range of disciplines and cultures. She is the principal investigator for the World Values Survey (WVS) in Estonia and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the WVS. Anu is active in public engagement work on topics relating to her research, her work has been extensively covered and cited by national and international news media.

Sponsored by the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies. Co-sponsored by the Chair of Estonian Studies.