The MEVIR Framework: A Virtue-Informed Moral-Epistemic Model of Human Trust Decisions

2025-12-02

AI Summary

In contexts of information complexity, polarization, and widespread misinformation, classical rational-agent models fail to account for the heterogeneity of human trust decisions. Method: This paper develops an integrative trust-decision model synthesizing procedural reasoning, virtue epistemology, and an extended Moral Foundations Theory. It introduces the “trust lattice” framework, reconceptualizing cognitive biases as systematic failures in the application of epistemic virtues, and employs evidential-chain modeling and ontological deconstruction to analyze real-world cases—specifically vaccine mandates and climate policy debates. Contribution/Results: The analysis reveals that trust divergence stems from deep-seated differences in ontological presuppositions and moral intuitions (e.g., authority, purity), and demonstrates that political polarization arises from fractures in moral priors and consensus on cognitive authority. These findings provide a theoretical foundation for designing metacognitively enhanced decision-support systems.

Technology Category

• Reasoning under Uncertainty: Other Foundations of Reasoning under Uncertainty
• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Preferences
• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Representing, Reasoning, and Using Provenance, Trust

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics for personalization
• Semantics and Knowledge: Provenance, trust, security and privacy, and ethical issues in managing semantic data
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Trust and reliance of crowd workers and data experts on GenAI

Abstract

The 21st-century information landscape presents an unprecedented challenge: how do individuals make sound trust decisions amid complexity, polarization, and misinformation? Traditional rational-agent models fail to capture human trust formation, which involves a complex synthesis of reason, character, and pre-rational intuition. This report introduces the Moral-Epistemic VIRtue informed (MEVIR) framework, a comprehensive descriptive model integrating three theoretical perspectives: (1) a procedural model describing evidence-gathering and reasoning chains; (2) Linda Zagzebski's virtue epistemology, characterizing intellectual disposition and character-driven processes; and (3) Extended Moral Foundations Theory (EMFT), explaining rapid, automatic moral intuitions that anchor reasoning. Central to the framework are ontological concepts - Truth Bearers, Truth Makers, and Ontological Unpacking-revealing that disagreements often stem from fundamental differences in what counts as admissible reality. MEVIR reframes cognitive biases as systematic failures in applying epistemic virtues and demonstrates how different moral foundations lead agents to construct separate, internally coherent"trust lattices". Through case studies on vaccination mandates and climate policy, the framework shows that political polarization represents deeper divergence in moral priors, epistemic authorities, and evaluative heuristics. The report analyzes how propaganda, psychological operations, and echo chambers exploit the MEVIR process. The framework provides foundation for a Decision Support System to augment metacognition, helping individuals identify biases and practice epistemic virtues. The report concludes by acknowledging limitations and proposing longitudinal studies for future research.

Problem

• Modeling human trust decisions in complex information environments
• Integrating reasoning, character, and intuition in trust formation
• Addressing polarization through moral-epistemic divergence analysis

Innovation

• Integrates procedural reasoning with virtue epistemology and moral foundations
• Reframes cognitive biases as failures in applying epistemic virtues
• Provides foundation for metacognitive Decision Support System