trust versus mistrust

n. The developmental task in the oral-sensory stage in Erik Erikson's epigenetic cycle of self-development which runs from birth to about 1 year of age. In learning to make sense of the sensory world around it, the infant must acquire a belief in the possibility of need satisfying relationships, which Erikson called basic trust. Achievement of this basic trust leads to hope that needs can be met even if temporarily frustrated and so gives emotional strength to the ego's plans for the future. Basic mistrust, the other possibility, is a failure to establish a belief in the possibility of satisfying relationships, which leads to social withdrawal and despair. Infants develop a mistrust of the world when there is a failure of their efforts to interact with the world to produce significant need satisfaction, as when they are severely neglected. Mistrust-trust is not an all-ornone phenomenon, and infants who have complete mistrust tend to die or lack contact with reality, while those with mostly mistrust with a little admixture of trust tend to be shy, hypersensitive to rejection, and suspicious. Infants who develop mostly trust with some skepticism of others tend to have a greater capacity to grow and deal with the world in realistic ways.