'Trust game' test shows Israelis find Germans, Americans more reliable than own countrymen

Though Israel was recently chosen as one of the least popular countries in the world - with just Pakistan, North Korea, and Iran ranking lower - stereotypes held by gentiles should be the least of the population's worries, according to a new survey.

A recent study examining trust between Israelis shows that residents of the Jewish state trust foreigners more than other Israelis.

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The participants were asked to send each of the three people a certain amount of money, intended to help measure his level of trust in that person. Any amount of money that was given was automatically multiplied by three and given back to the sender, so that if one of the participants decided to send NIS 50 ($13) to the German, then the German would have NIS 150 ($41) from which he would decide how much to send back to the participant.

"The amount the participant sent conveyed the level of trust he had for the receiver," said Borvoi. "The trust game is a behavioral index."