Abstract
The sense of security, identified with the Japanese term, Anshin, is identified as an important contributor to emotional trust. This viewpoint suggests that designers should consider the subjective sense of security as well as objective security measures in designing systems and their user interfaces. A survey of users reveals both the personal and the environmental factors contributing to the users’ sense of security when using the Internet. A more encompassing view of Anshin as including safety, reliability, and other non-functional properties of systems may provide additional insights for system design.
TopBackground
In Japanese, the term Anshin is commonly used to mean what we have called the sense of security. The word can refer to not only security against a threat but also to express confidence in an outcome, such as in the context of having Anshin that I will be on time for my flight because I am on a train scheduled to reach the airport with time to spare.
The use of the term Anshin in technological contexts has been investigated primarily in the field of risk communication—the process by which nuclear power plant providers, experts, and residents of a plant area interact in order so that residents can get Anshin regarding their safety (Kikkawa et al., 2003, pp.1-8). In the field of risk communication, Kikkawa identified two Anshin states that might be reached, one with knowledge and the other without knowledge. When one has knowledge of technology and feels secure, one is in the state of Anshin with knowledge. On the other hand, when one does not have such knowledge and yet feels secure, one is in the state of Anshin without knowledge. Anshin with knowledge is achieved by active learning and seeking information by users, as well as when technology experts provide information to users.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Cognitive Trust: According to Lewis and Weigert (1985), the cognitive part of trust is the trusting behavior motivated by “good rational reasons” why the object of trust merits trust (p.972). In the e-commerce area, Xiao Komiak and Benbasat define cognitive trust as “a trustor’s rational expectation that a trustee will have the necessary competence, benevolence, and integrity to be relied upon” (2004, p.187). Cognitive trust has been called simply “trust” in many literatures, however, they call it cognitive when they compare it with emotional trust.
Anshin: A Japanese noun which is composed of two words, viz. “An” and “Shin.” “An” indicates to ease, and “Shin” is mind or worry. It means the sense of security as well as the senses of safety, reliability, availability and privacy.
Trust: Trust is a particular level of one’s subjective probability that another’s action would be favorable to oneself from the psychological viewpoint (Gambetta, 1988),. Gambetta states that “trust (or symmetrically distrust) is a particular level of subjective probability with which an agent will perform a particular action, both before the trustor can monitor such action (or independently of his capacity of ever to be able to monitor it) and in a context in which it affects its own action” (p.217).
The Sense of Security: The emotional part of security. It is concerned with how users feel when they use security tools.
Security: According to Oxford English dictionary (Oxford English Dictionary, 1933, vol.9), security is the condition of being protected from or not exposed to danger, or freedom from doubt. In this chapter we are concerned with security in the former terms. Generally information security has been concerned more with security technology including cryptography, steganography, authentication, access control and secure protocols.
Trust Model: The trust model proposed by Marsh (1994) is one of the first works which proposed a formal treatment integrating different trust concepts. According to Marsh, major early contributions to understanding trust have come from the areas of sociology, social psychology and philosophy mainly in work carried out by Deutsch, Luhman, Berber and Gambetta. Many attempts have been made to represent trust mathematically and a number of computational trust models, mostly based on Gambetta’s definition have emerged for risk management mechanism in on-line communications. The goal of a computational trust model is to assist users with decision making.
Emotional Trust: According to Lewis and Weigert (1985, p. 972) emotional trust is trusting behavior motivated primarily by strong positive affect for the object of trust. Emotional trust is defined as emotional security, or feeling secure, or comfortable by Xiao & Benbasat (2003).
Risk Communication: The communication between nuclear power plant providers and experts and the residents of a plant area. The providers and experts communicate about risks of a nuclear power plant so that residents will get Anshin (Kikkawa et al., 2003, pp.1-8).