In social scientific terms, being able to have confidence in others and institutions means being able to feel that they can be trusted. There are some studies that have tried to find out how placing your faith in something affects the brain. Although scientific theories about the physiological nature of being trusting are at an early stage, to say the least, it does appear that when people have greater confidence in the things and people around them that they experience different neurobiology. Indeed, the greater presence of hormones like oxytocin seems to be the case among trusting people than others who feel greater levels of mistrust in their daily lives.
Trustworthiness is the subject of the earliest forms of dramatic production in Ancient Greece, and even older poetic forms tended to focus on subject matters like betrayal, camaraderie, the nature of friendship and of mistrust. Nevertheless, being trusting and being trusted are generally considered to be sociological phenomena. Bear in mind, too, that it is not just individuals who feel different levels of mistrust and faith. Institutions and even countries can have various levels of trustworthiness associated with them, usually through their dealings with one another. In many cases, issues of trustworthiness are resolved through contract law. Trusting that any breach of a contract will be dealt with independently is an essential part of the way this works. In this sense, the legal institution of marriage, which involves a contract of sorts, is much the same way that people in relationships manage their issues of trustworthiness with one another. As such, human society is largely built to deal with issues of potential mistrust among one another even though being trusted by others is essential for everyday life to take place.