mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Can Large Language Model Agents Simulate Human Trust Behavior?

arXiv 2402.04559 ↗First posted 7 Feb 2024cs.AI cs.CL cs.HCcited by 62

On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Social simulation and multi-agent debate

Abstract (arXiv)

Large Language Model (LLM) agents have been increasingly adopted as simulation tools to model humans in social science and role-playing applications. However, one fundamental question remains: can LLM agents really simulate human behavior? In this paper, we focus on one critical and elemental behavior in human interactions, trust, and investigate whether LLM agents can simulate human trust behavior. We first find that LLM agents generally exhibit trust behavior, referred to as agent trust, under the framework of Trust Games, which are widely recognized in behavioral economics. Then, we discover that GPT-4 agents manifest high behavioral alignment with humans in terms of trust behavior, indicating the feasibility of simulating human trust behavior with LLM agents. In addition, we probe the biases of agent trust and differences in agent trust towards other LLM agents and humans. We also explore the intrinsic properties of agent trust under conditions including external manipulations and advanced reasoning strategies. Our study provides new insights into the behaviors of LLM agents and the fundamental analogy between LLMs and humans beyond value alignment. We further illustrate broader implications of our discoveries for applications where trust is paramount.

Key facts. Cited by 62 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Social simulation and multi-agent debate, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 35 of its 70 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 7 Feb 2024.

Builds on

35 of 70 references.

Closest ancestors · 5

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2023War and Peace (WarAgent): Large Language Model-based Multi-Agent Simulation of World Wars28 Nov
  2. 2023LLM-Based Agent Society Investigation: Collaboration and Confrontation in Avalon Gameplay23 Oct
  3. 2023EconAgent: Large Language Model-Empowered Agents for Simulating Macroeconomic Activities16 Oct
  4. 2023Exploring Collaboration Mechanisms for LLM Agents: A Social Psychology View3 Oct
  5. 2023Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior7 Apr

Other references · 30

  1. 2023GPT-4 Technical Reportcited by 18,132
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  6. 2023Bias and Fairness in Large Language Models: A Surveycited by 626
  7. 2022Using Large Language Models to Simulate Multiple Humans and Replicate Human Subject Studiescited by 506
  8. 2023SOTOPIA: Interactive Evaluation for Social Intelligence in Language Agentscited by 350
  9. 2023A Dynamic LLM-Powered Agent Network for Task-Oriented Agent Collaborationcited by 281
  10. 2023AI Alignment: A Comprehensive Surveycited by 256
  11. 2023Large Language Models Empowered Agent-based Modeling and Simulation: A Survey and Perspectivescited by 253
  12. 2023Can Large Language Models Transform Computational Social Science?cited by 245
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  2. 2023Exploring Large Language Models for Communication Games: An Empirical Study on Werewolfcited by 238
  3. 2023Playing repeated games with Large Language Modelscited by 213
  4. 2022Language Models as Agent Modelscited by 131
  5. 2022Explanations Can Reduce Overreliance on AI Systems During Decision-Makingcited by 111
  6. 2023Avalon's Game of Thoughts: Battle Against Deception through Recursive Contemplationcited by 102
  7. 2023Can Large Language Models Serve as Rational Players in Game Theory? A Systematic Analysiscited by 91
  8. 2023On Generative Agents in Recommendationcited by 88
  9. 2023Suspicion-Agent: Playing Imperfect Information Games with Theory of Mind Aware GPT-4cited by 67
  10. 2023Simulating Social Media Using Large Language Models to Evaluate Alternative News Feed Algorithmscited by 64
  11. 2023Rehearsal: Simulating Conflict to Teach Conflict Resolutioncited by 54
  12. 2023AvalonBench: Evaluating LLMs Playing the Game of Avaloncited by 45
  13. 2023Welfare Diplomacy: Benchmarking Language Model Cooperationcited by 43
  14. 2024AI for social science and social science of AI: A Surveycited by 29
  15. 2023Cooperation on the Fly: Exploring Language Agents for Ad Hoc Teamwork in the Avalon Gamecited by 27
  16. 2024Economics Arena for Large Language Modelscited by 17
  17. 2022Warmth and competence in human-agent cooperationcited by 11
  18. 2023Towards Effective and Interpretable Human-Agent Collaboration in MOBA Games: A Communication Perspectivecited by 5

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2024: 35; 2025: 22; 2026: 5.

62 papers.

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  18. 2025Agentic AI Systems Applied to tasks in Financial Services: Modeling and model risk management crewscited by 12
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  22. 2024A Large-Scale Simulation on Large Language Models for Decision-Making in Political Sciencecited by 9
  23. 2025SPeCtrum: A Grounded Framework for Multidimensional Identity Representation in LLM-Based Agentcited by 8
  24. 2024The Good, the Bad, and the Hulk-like GPT: Analyzing Emotional Decisions of Large Language Models in Cooperation and Bargaining Gamescited by 7
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  27. 2025How Does Cognitive Bias Affect Large Language Models? A Case Study on the Anchoring Effect in Price Negotiation Simulationscited by 7
  28. 2024How Different AI Chatbots Behave? Benchmarking Large Language Models in Behavioral Economics Gamescited by 6
  29. 2025Investigating and Extending Homans' Social Exchange Theory with Large Language Model based Agentscited by 6
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  33. 2024Mind Scramble: Unveiling Large Language Model Psychology Via Typoglycemiacited by 4
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  35. 2025How Strategic Agents Respond: Comparing Analytical Models with LLM-Generated Responses in Strategic Classificationcited by 4
  36. 2025Human Preferences in Large Language Model Latent Space: A Technical Analysis on the Reliability of Synthetic Data in Voting Outcome Predictioncited by 4
  37. 2025MotiveBench: How Far Are We From Human-Like Motivational Reasoning in Large Language Models?cited by 4
  38. 2025Aligning Large Language Model Agents with Rational and Moral Preferences: A Supervised Fine-Tuning Approachcited by 4

50 most cited of 62 All 62 (JSON)

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  2. 2025A closer look at how large language models trust humans: patterns and biases
  3. 2025Social preferences with unstable interactive reasoning: Large language models in economic trust games
  4. 2025Do Role-Playing Agents Practice What They Preach? Belief-Behavior Consistency in LLM-Based Simulations of Human Trust
  5. 2025When Trust Collides: Decoding Human-LLM Cooperation Dynamics through the Prisoner's Dilemma
  6. 2026Evaluating LLM Alignment With Human Trust Models
  7. 2024Reproducing and Extending Experiments in Behavioral Strategy with Large Language Models
  8. 2025Do LLMs trust AI regulation? Emerging behaviour of game-theoretic LLM agents