We make promises throughout life; sometimes we focus on major promises, such as marriage counseling vows or in extraordinary situations where much is at stake. Other times, our promises are small; we may promise to perform some errand or to keep our word about providing an object to someone else. The theme of breaking promises and the capacity for a host of emotional difficulties to arise for both parties in the wake of such circumstances has been examined by many fields over time, but the theme has recently received special attention from one researcher who has revealed some interesting information on how we behave in relation to our promises.

Manuela Vieth, who conducted her study with support from the NWO Division for the Social Sciences, focused her inquiry on the way in which we perceive people based on their actions and words in regards to making and keeping promises. Through a series of interactions between pairs of unacquainted people, her research tested the limits of trustworthiness with a basic rewards and punishments scheme usable by both parties, based on a simple income making model that allotted money to subjects depending on their choices. The research suggested that we perceive people who make promises to be more trustworthy, and that this reaction is even stronger than the positive response to promises that are kept.

However, the research also indicated that people can be expected to seek revenge for promises that are broken. For mental health professionals, this research has strong implications in the building of trust and openness for therapist / client sessions, and can also shed light on the reactions of clients to their families and peers when promises are involved. While giving your word can be a tempting action that does not demand too much immediate thought, carefully considering how we frame our promises and how other people may react can lead to more positive experiences.