Pictographic name, warmth perception, and trust: Easy Chinese name holders are seen as warmer and more trustworthy

Although easy names are known to help gain the trust of others, the underlying links between names and trust remain understudied, especially in non-alphabetic languages (e.g., Chinese). Drawing on the stereotype content model framework, the current research revealed that Chinese names’ recognizability had asymmetrical effects on warmth and competence perceptions. Although both warmth and competence perceptions contributed to trust judgments, only warmth perceptions mediated the influence of name recognizability on trust judgments. Specifically, individuals with easier names were perceived as warmer rather than more competent and were thus judged as being more trustworthy. The effect of name recognizability on warmth perceptions and trust judgments could not be attributed to pronunciations or semantic meanings. The current work fills an important research gap by revealing the psychological underpinnings of non-alphabet-based names in interpersonal perceptions. We discuss theoretical implications on processing fluency and the stereotype content model, as well as practical implications.