Trust vs. Mistrust

A psychologist, Erik Erikson, is well know for his theory of eight stages of psycho-social development. This theory delves into the psychological and social development of all individuals throughout their lifespan. The stages focus in on important and events from birth throughout a person's life to the very end, such as feeding, potty training, exploring, school, social relationships, relationships, work and parenthood, and then finally reflections on life. The stages goes as follows: infancy (trust vs. mistrust), early childhood (autonomy vs. Shame and doubt), preschool (initiative vs. guilt), school age (industry vs. inferiority), adolescence (identity vs. role confusion), young adulthood (intimacy vs. isolation), middle adulthood (generativity vs. stagnation), and lastly, late adulthood (integrity vs. despair). As someone falling within the stage of young adulthood, I can simply look to the years and stages before and self reflect on which role of development influenced my psychological as well as social being, environment, and life style.  Within this blog, I would like to focus on the first and probably most vital stage of Erikson's theory of psycho-social development, and that is Trust vs. Mistrust.

Trust vs. Mistrust the first stage of Erikson's psycho-social development begining at infancy onto 18 months of age. This important event is surrounded by the "feeding" of infants in which they relay on their caregivers to feed and above all care for them. The caregiver(s) should be the one who takes care of the babies needs most and not only care and give forth to the babies essential needs, but also provides affection and love for the baby. This stage is the answer to whether the baby can in the end gain the trust of those around them, giving them a sense of hope for the future yet to come. When a parent or caregiver provides basic food, cleanses, and shows emotions (through hugs, kisses, and smiles), the baby understands that that person is a reliable person to their needs, and prepares themselves to explore their environment through 'autonomy' in the next stage of autonomy vs. shame and doubt. On the other hand, even if parent does or doesn't properly care for their child, also not showing them affection (picking up, holding) or even allows them to cry all the time without any sort of reassurance, the child fosters a sense of mistrust. This mistrust can lead to the shame and doubt in the next stage of development, though nothing is ever set in stone. The baby always has the ability to grow and change whether that means later on in development by caregivers, or later in lives on their own or by surrounding peers.

My mother often tells me of how "spoiled" I was when I was a baby, and how much I still am spoiled to this day. As told to me from my grandparents, my mom often over fed me, which was why I became such a chubby baby. She didn't ever allow me to cry for long, which was very different in how she was raised by our Caribbean culture. Anytime I cried I was fed, and she also never allowed me to cry through the night, although that was suggested by other family members because they feared I wouldn't have any independence. My mom talked about how when I woke in the night, rather than crying I would look at her for some type of reassurance and go back to sleep. She says, "you we're the perfect baby, never cried just slept a lot...oh and you were very chubby." Despite what my family thought about my becoming a spoil and dependent person, my mother always being there fostered trust within me. This allowed me to feel safe and secure in my world, and now into my young adulthood stage of intimacy vs. isolation, I'm very intimate with my peers surrounding me, and my moms very proud of my independence as a college student.