The main theme of chapter’s 6 and 7 is trust: how to acquire it, when to give it, and why it exists. Throughout both chapters, Fisher examines how and why we trusts others,, how we can gain the trust of others, and way to deal (either pro-actively, or re-actively) with broken trust.

Chapter 6 is mostly about the origin, evolution, and application of trust. Fisher explains how trust, despite being contradictory to evolution in some regards, evolved with animals to help out the species in the long run. We trust others because we are social creatures and rely on that trust to build the communities that we depend on for survival. One of Fisher’s methods to gain the trust of others is to “cut off your escape route”; you should make it clear to the other party in the agreement that you are either “in it to win it” or risk a very harsh penalty for breaking the agreement (trust of the other person). Other’s include a third party to enforce the agreement (the law, a father, etc.) to just offering your trust first. People are more likely to trust you if you trust them first. Fisher also shows how different societies build trust among members. Certain rituals can build trust between members of a community because as long as the ritual is carried out appropriately, everyone prospers; the members need to trust the organizers to lead them down the correct path, and the organizers have to trust the members to not deviate, or else everyone suffers.

Chapter 7 focuses on what happens after trust is established, and subsequently broken. Fisher uses 2 different fictional characters, Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby (Mrs. D.) and Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid (Mrs. B.). Mrs. D represents the Golden rule, while Mrs. B represents what amounts to Draconian law. Mrs. D’s way of correcting bad behavior is to make the breaker of trust feel bad and regret their decision. Mrs B’s took a more direct route, punishing bad deeds “with all the zeal of an Old Testament Profit.” Mrs. D’s strategy works with social animals (rats, bats, chimps, etc) who help after being helped, while Mrs. B’s strategy is employed by antisocial animals (American brown-headed brown birds) who use others to do the work for them. Both of these strategies are evolutionarily viable, and both exist in humans. They both lead to a “tit for tat” scenario, Mrs. D’s philosophy enters a positive feedback loop (help begets help begets more help), while Mrs. B’s philosophy enters a negative feedback loop (slights are answered with slights which are answered with even more severe slights). Fisher conjectures that the seemingly best strategy is to combine both, offer help and respect, but make it clear that any violation will be met with retaliation.

Chapter 6 and 7 also show what factors cause people to trust others. Some of it is intuition, which fisher shows can be very misleading and is most likely wrong. Some of it is proximity, people who are closer together (either genetically or geographically) are more likely to trust each other. But at the end, it come down to a calculation, the Cost:Befit ratio of any situation must be lower than the factors that cause trust to form. If it is, the chances of a bond of trust forming is greatly increased, because any cheating would result in everyone suffering.

Chapters 6 and 7 reveal a lot about how trust affects humans and how we can use that trust to our benefit. Fisher also shows how easy it is for the trust to be unfounded, and then broken. They also show how if people just trusted each other, and confirmed that trust, the world would be a much better place.