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TRUVACE RECORD VERSION
record: TRV-2026-2687
version: 1
kind: certified
reason: Certified into the record
timestamp: 2026-11-12T17:01:02.535243Z
status: published
lens: g_space
sector: business
headline: Privacy and empathy in AI chatbots: A dual-route analysis of cognitive and emotional trust in financial services
dek: Trust remains a critical barrier to the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots in financial services, yet extant research has not systematically examined how distinct communication strategies differentially shape cognitive and emotional trust. Grounded in Dual Process Theory and enriched by Theory of Mind, this study investigates how privacy communication and empathetic language influence users’ trust formation through complementary cognitive (System 2) and affective (System 1) pathways. Privacy commu…
gain_title: In a 163-participant experiment with a GPT-based investment chatbot in a simulated banking scenario, privacy communication raised cognitive trust and empathetic language raised emotional trust.
problem_title: (none)
trace_subject: (none)
gain_reading: In a 163-participant experiment with a GPT-based investment chatbot in a simulated banking scenario, privacy communication raised cognitive trust and empathetic language raised emotional trust.
gain_evidence: privacy communication significantly enhances cognitive trust (F = 15.43, p < .001, η2 = .088) | empathetic language significantly increases emotional trust (F = 15.76, p < .001, η2 = .090)
problem_reading: (none)
problem_evidence: (none)
quick_read: A peer-reviewed experiment with 163 participants tested how an AI investment chatbot could earn trust in a simulated banking scenario. Chatbot messages that stressed privacy raised cognitive trust, which concerns the chatbot's competence and integrity. Messages written in an empathetic style raised emotional trust, which concerns warmth and benevolence.

The effect sizes were similar: F = 15.43 (η2 = .088) for privacy on cognitive trust and F = 15.76 (η2 = .090) for empathy on emotional trust. The two factors worked independently, with no significant interaction, so the effects added together rather than amplified one another.

The authors say trust remains a barrier to adopting chatbots in financial services and suggest that banks can combine privacy assurances with empathetic language in interface design. The evidence comes from a simulated scenario, not from real customers handling real money.
limitation: The experiment ran in a simulated banking scenario with 163 participants, so the results do not show how trust would change with real customers and real money.
tag: Evidence-backed gain
key_points: The study used a 2 × 2 between-subjects design with 163 participants, crossing privacy communication with empathetic language. | The chatbot was a GPT-based investment assistant used in a simulated banking scenario. | Privacy communication significantly raised cognitive trust (F = 15.43, p < .001, η2 = .088). | Empathetic language significantly raised emotional trust (F = 15.76, p < .001, η2 = .090). | Both factors strengthened overall trusting beliefs, with no significant interaction between them.
rundown: The researchers drew on Dual Process Theory and Theory of Mind. They treated privacy communication as a structural assurance that prompts analytical (System 2) evaluation of a chatbot's competence and integrity. They treated empathetic language as a cue that triggers intuitive (System 1) impressions of warmth and benevolence.

Participants were split across four conditions in a between-subjects design. Privacy messaging moved cognitive trust and empathetic wording moved emotional trust. The absence of an interaction supports what the authors call an additive dual-pathway model.

The authors say the findings offer interface-design guidance for banking executives who want to build user confidence through both rational and relational trust mechanisms.
sources:
- peer_reviewed | Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science | https://doi.org/10.1080/21639159.2026.2660934 | 2026-06-03
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