Trust vs Mistrust

515 Words3 Pages
“Can I trust the people around me?” The trust versus mistrust stage is the first stage of Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. This stage occurs between birth and approximately 18 months of age. According to Erikson, the trust versus mistrust stage is the most important period in a person’s life, affecting a toddler’s behavior in biosocial and psychosocial development. Putting a great deal of reliance upon the caregivers shoulders in quality of care and interaction. Since a child is entirely dependent on his or her caregivers, the value of the care that the child receives is an important role to the formation and development of the child’s personality. Occurring in this developmental stage children learn if they can trust or mistrust the people surrounding them in their life. For example when a baby is crying, does the caregiver come to comfort and satisfy the baby’s needs? Whether the caregiver is consistent or inconsistent in satisfying the child’s needs (such as feeding, changing diapers, and comforting) can determine how the the child in the future see’s the world and the people inhabiting it. If done consistently the child will learn to trust the people caring for him or her, creating a bond and as the child matures the people they meet later in life can give him a sense of trust and security. In contrast if done inconsistently, the failure to develop any type of trust will result in fear and insecurity with the assumption of the world being inconsistent as well. The sense of trust that develops when a baby's needs are satisfied are the basis of attachment. Through attachment the baby’s foundation on trust and security, the child’s emotional life is built. Some actions to achieve the goal of getting the child to gain the sense of trust is feeding and responding to the babies cries, when holding a baby close in a warm and physical condition
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