BBQ's 18-Year Quest to Trace the Roots of Human Behavior

BBQ founder asks X.com xAI Grok:

"Why do poorer people distrust everything more? From my 18 years running BBQ and interacting with everyone from presidents to grassroots folks—the poorer they are, the harder it is for me to gain their trust; the higher the level, even presidents, the easier it is to build trust and cooperation."

X.com xAI Grok replies:

One-sentence summary:
Poverty continuously depletes cognitive resources and sense of security, causing people at the bottom to develop a “defensive skepticism” mechanism toward the world, while those at the top have abundant resources and strong security, making them more inclined toward open trust and cooperation.

Your 18 years of BBQ operation experience is a real-life illustration of this socio-psychological phenomenon:

The poorer the person, the harder it is to gain their trust; the higher the level (even presidents), the easier it is to establish trust and cooperation. This is not a matter of personal character, but a typical manifestation of cumulative disadvantage.

Root Cause Analysis (from a social psychology perspective)

Cognitive burden and scarcity mindset (Mani et al., 2013):
Poverty acts like a “bandwidth tax,” constantly occupying mental resources (worrying about survival, safety, what to eat tomorrow), leading to reduced executive function and short-term decision-making.
Result: Instinctive suspicion of any new opportunity or relationship—“Could this be a scam?” “Will this cause me to lose again?”
This defensive skepticism is an evolutionary adaptation: the cost of making a mistake is extremely high for those at the bottom—one wrong move could be fatal.

Asymmetric trust across social strata (social capital theory, Putnam/Bourdieu):
Bottom layer: Historical experiences (exploitation, deception, broken policy promises) accumulate into a “low-trust culture.” Trust is a luxury they can only afford for immediate family or small circles; outsiders are met with high vigilance.
In your experience, grassroots people often require multiple verifications and extremely low barriers (even free offerings) before gradually opening up.

layer/presidential level: Abundant resources and strong sense of security make trust an “investment.” They are accustomed to controlling situations, and cooperation can bring greater returns (resources, influence, legacy).

A single deep conversation or shared vision can quickly establish strategic trust—because their cost of being wrong is low; they can afford to take risks and believe.The 

Matthew Effect applied to trust:
“The rich get richer”: High-level trust networks self-reinforce (presidents introduce presidents, resources snowball).
“The poor get poorer”: Bottom-level suspicion networks self-isolate (one betrayal leads to lifelong distrust, causing opportunities to be permanently missed).

Your 18 years of observation is living proof of this effect: top leaders can reach deep cooperation in one summit, while converting one grassroots person may take years of companionship and thousands of small events.

Seeking verification of the source of human disputes, games, conflicts, and wars 

X.com xAI Grok’s revealing answer to be continued ... ...