The affiliative trust–mistrust coding system assesses the strength of two types of sentiments about affiliative relationships: trust and mistrust. People who depict relationships as enjoyable experiences that turn out well score high on the trust subscale. The mistrust subscale, on the other hand, assesses expressions of negativity and cynicism about relationships. Scores on the subscales can be considered independently or combined to form a measure of affiliative trust versus mistrust.

The coding system was designed to be used on written material generated in response to pictures such as those of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Pictures with two or more people interacting in some way provide the best stimulus material. In order that enough material is generated to yield reliable scores, subjects should be given 5 minutes per picture to write stories in response to four to six pictures. Assessments can be done with groups of subjects, provided the environment is quiet and comfortable and the subjects are able to refrain from interacting. The scoring criteria for each category are presented, along with scoring examples.

POSITIVE SCORING CATEGORIES (TRUST SUBSCALE)

Affiliative action is taken (AT+)

This category is scored when a character makes affiliative overtures to another person (or persons), and the outcome, that is, the other person's response, is not specifically stated.