Residential mobility and psychological transformation in China: From relational to institutional trust

Abstract

As one of the important drivers of social change in China, residential mobility has caused a dramatic change in the interpersonal environment, but it remained little known how residential mobility would influence the basis of interpersonal interaction—trust. The present research aimed to explore the effect of residential mobility on two kinds of trust, relational trust and institutional trust, by two studies. Study 1 explored the correlational relationship between regional residential mobility and two kinds of trust using data from the China General Social Survey 2010 and the Sixth National Population Census of China, and analyzed the data using hierarchical linear modeling. Study 2 switched to the individual level and investigated the causal relationship between individual residential mobility and two kinds of trust in the laboratory using the writing task for priming residential mobility and the situational selection task for trust. Study 1 found that individuals exhibited lower relational trust when they lived in a region of higher residential mobility. For institutional trust, the indicator about the permission to register household in inflow cities could significantly positively predict this. Study 2 found that the primed mindset of high (vs. low) residential mobility reduces relational trust and enhances institutional trust. In conclusion, the present research revealed that residential mobility promotes the transformation of individuals' trust mode from relational to institutional trust in social life, thus expanding the research field of residential mobility as a socioecological factor and extended the understanding of psychological transformation under the background of social change in China.

Keywords

institutional trust / relational trust / residential mobility / trust

References

[1] Adler, N. E., Epel, E. S., Castellazzo, G., & Ickovics, J. R. (2000). Relationship of subjective and objective social status with psychological and physiological functioning: Preliminary data in healthy white women. Health Psychology, 19(6), 586–592.

[2] Bryk, A. S., & Raudenbush, S. W. (1992). Hierarchical linear models. Sage Publications.

[3] Cheng, M. Y., & Duan, C. R. (2021). Highly active population movements in China get further confirmation. Population Research, 45(3), 75–81.

[4] Choi, H., & Oishi, S. (2020). The psychology of residential mobility: A decade of progress. Current Opinion in Psychology, 32, 72–75.

[5] Davis, J. H., Schoorman, F. D., Mayer, R. C., & Tan, H. H. (2000). The trusted general manager and business unit performance: Empirical evidence of a competitive advantage. Strategic Management Journal, 21(5), 563–576.

[6] Duan, C. R., Xie, D. H., & Lv, L. D. (2019). Migration transition in China. Population Research, 43(2), 12–20.

[7] Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Buchner, A., & Lang, A. G. (2009). Statistical power analyses using G*power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior Research Methods, 41(4), 1149–1160.

[8] Fei, X. T. (1985). From the soil: The foundations of Chinese society. SDX Joint Publishing Company.

[9] Gao, X. D. (2016a). Duplication or creation: Reconstructing path of interpersonal trust based on perspective of social mobility. Journal of Social Sciences, 06, 71–83.

[10] Gao, X. D. (2016b). Report on social trust in China (2016). In J. X. Wang & M. Q. Chen (Eds.), Annual report of social mentality of China (2016) (pp. 117–141). Social Sciences Academy Press.

[11] Hafeez, A., Dangel, W. J., Ostroff, S. M., Kiani, A., Glenn, S., Abbas, J., Afzal, M. S., Afzal, S., Ahmad, S., Ahmed, A. S., Ahmed, H., Ali, L., Ali, M., Ali, Z., Arshad, M., Ashraf, T., Bhutta, Z. A., Bibi, S., Butt, Z. A., … Mokdad, A. H. (2023). The state of health in Pakistan and its provinces and territories, 1990–2019: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden Of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet. Global Health, 11, e229–e243.

[12] Hu, R., & Li, J. Y. (2006). The composition of urban residents' trust and its influencing factors. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 26(6), 45–61.

[13] Jing, S. J. (2013). Conceptualizing and measuring sense of social trust. In Y. Y. Yang & J. X. Wang (Eds.), Research on social mentality in contemporary China (pp. 108–135). Social Sciences Academic Press.

[14] Knack, S., & Keefer, P. (1997). Does social capital have an economic payoff? A cross-country investigation. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112(4), 1251–1288.

[15] Kreft, I., & De Leeuw, J. (1998). Introducing multilevel modeling. Sage.

[16] Li, W., Li, L. M., & Li, M. (2019). Residential mobility reduces ingroup favoritism in prosocial behavior. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 22, 3–17.

[17] Li, W. M., & Liang, Y. C. (2002). Particular trust and universal trust: The structure and characteristics of Chinese trust. Sociological Studies, 3, 11–22.

[18] Liu, G. F., & Lin, C. D. (2013). Constructing trust index and building harmonious society. Journal of Beijing Normal University (Social Sciences), 1, 25–32.

[19] Lun, J., Oishi, S., & Tenney, E. R. (2012). Residential mobility moderates preferences for egalitarian versus loyal helpers. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(1), 291–297.

[20] Lun, J., Roth, D., Oishi, S., & Kesebir, S. (2012). Residential mobility, social support concerns, and friendship strategy. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4(3), 332–339.

[21] McNamara, R. A., & Henrich, J. (2017). Kin and kinship psychology both influence cooperative coordination in Yasawa, Fiji. Evolution and Human Behavior, 38, 197–207.

[22] Oishi, S. (2010). The psychology of residential mobility: Implications for the self, social relationships, and well-being. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(1), 5–21.

[23] Oishi, S. (2014). Socioecological psychology. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 581–609.

[24] Oishi, S., Ishii, K., & Lun, J. (2009). Residential mobility and conditionality of group identification. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(4), 913–919.

[25] Oishi, S., & Kesebir, S. (2012). Optimal social-networking strategy is a function of socioeconomic conditions. Psychological Science, 23(12), 1542–1548.

[26] Oishi, S., Kesebir, S., Miao, F. F., Talhelm, T., Endo, Y., Uchida, Y., Shibanai, Y., & Norasakkunkit, V. (2013). Residential mobility increases motivation to expand social network: But why? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49(2), 217–223.

[27] Oishi, S., Miao, F. F., Koo, M., Kisling, J., & Ratliff, K. A. (2012). Residential mobility breeds familiarity-seeking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(1), 149–162.

[28] Oishi, S., & Talhelm, T. (2012). Residential mobility: What psychological research reveals. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21(6), 425–430.

[29] Paulson, K. R., Kamath, A. M., Alam, T., Bienhoff, K., Abady, G. G., Abbas, J., Abbasi-Kangevari, M., Abbastabar, H., Abd-Allah, F., Abd-Elsalam, S. M., Abdoli, A., Abedi, A., Abolhassani, H., Abreu, L. G., Abu-Gharbieh, E., Abu-Rmeileh, N. M., Abushouk, A. I., Adamu, A. L., Adebayo, O., … Kassebaum, N. J. (2021). Global, regional, and national progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 for neonatal and child health: All-cause and cause-specific mortality findings from the Global Burden Of Disease Study 2019. Lancet, 398, 870–905.

[30] Rand, D. G., & Nowak, M. A. (2013). Human cooperation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 17, 413–425.

[31] Rao, Y. S., Zhou, J., Tian, Z. B., & Yang, Y. Y. (2013). A survey on social trust status among urban residents. In Y. Y. Yang & J. X. Wang (Eds.), Annual report of social mentality of China (2012–2013) (pp. 71–93). Social Sciences Academy Press.

[32] Rousseau, D. M., Sitkin, S., Burt, R. S., & Camerer, C. F. (1998). Not so different after all: A cross-discipline view of trust. Academy of Management Review, 23(3), 393–404.

[33] Sánchez-Rodríguez, Á., Willis, G. B., & Rodríguez-Bailón, R. (2017). Economic and social distance: Perceived income inequality negatively predicts an interdependent self-construal. International Journal of Psychology, 54(1), 117–125.

[34] Schug, J., Yuki, M., & Maddux, W. (2010). Relational mobility explains between-and within-culture differences in self-disclosure to close friends. Psychological Science, 21(10), 1471–1478.

[35] Tao, Z. L., & Wang, H. (2006). The change of trust mode: From interpersonal trust to institution-based trust. Journal of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (Social Sciences Edition), 8(2), 20–23.

[36] Tong, Z. F. (2006). Chaxu Geju of trust: An explanation of interpersonal trust in rural society. Gansu Theory Research, 3, 59–63.

[37] Wang, Y. W., Chen, L. C., & Hwang, K. K. (2006). The strategies of trust in Chinese society. Indigenous Psychology Research, 25, 199–242.

[38] Xin, Z. Q. (2019). Marketization and interpersonal trust decline in China. Advances in Psychological Science, 27(12), 1951–1966.

[39] Zhang, Y., & Xin, Z. Q. (2019). Rule comes first: The influences of market attributes on interpersonal trust in the marketization process. Journal of Social Issues, 75(3), 1–29.

[40] Zhao, N., Xu, K. Q., & Sun, L. (2021). Residential mobility and trust: The moderating role of cognitive need for closure. Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology, 15(4), 183449092097475.

[41] Zhou, H. (2021). The stability of migration pattern in China and related issues: Consideration based on the data of the seventh National Census Bulletin. Chinese Journal of Population Science, 3, 28–41.

[42] Zhu, H. (2011). From “trust for affinity” to “trust for interrelated interests”: The shift of interpersonal trust—An empirical study on interpersonal trust. Academia Bimestris, 4, 115–121.

[43] Zuo, S. J., Cai, P., Huang, N. W., Wang, F., & Wang, P. (2022). Population migration damages the natural environment: A multilevel investigation of the relationship between residential mobility and pro-environmental behaviors. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 49(5), 758–772.

[44] Zuo, S. J., Huang, N. W., Cai, P., & Wang, F. (2018). The lure of antagonistic social strategy in unstable socioecological environment: Residential mobility facilitates individuals' antisocial behavior. Evolution and Human Behavior, 39(3), 364–371.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2023 The Authors. PsyCh Journal published by Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.