Basic trust

The basic trust is a term that in Biosoziologie , psychology and psychoanalysis is used. Its range of meanings as well as the term itself are often the subject of discussion.

Two differing conceptual developments

Ego psychology

In 1950, the Freud student and child psychologist Erik H. Erikson introduced the concept of (basic) trust in Childhood and Society . In the German first edition of Childhood and Society in 1957, this term was translated as “basic trust”.

Erikson's contribution to developing ego psychology sought to supplement Freud's depth psychological development model of infantile sexuality with a parallel model on the level of ego development. According to Erikson, in the first year of life, Freud's oral phase , babies acquire a basic feeling of which situations and people they can trust and which they cannot. It allows people to perceive and judge their environment in a differentiated manner and, in terms of quality of feeling, corresponds to the optimistic confidence of adults in dealing with the world in a self-confident manner. In Erikson's stage model of psychosocial development , the acquisition of a solid basic trust at this first stage of development favors coping with the subsequent stages of development. An inadequate training of this basic feeling accordingly makes further development more difficult and leads u. U. to later, specific behavioral problems: The lack is overcompensated here by trust.

Even today, developmental psychologists agree with him that in the first years of life the course is set for whether we tend to trust the world and the people around us or not.

Biosociology

Regardless of this choice of translator words, the German sociologist Dieter Claessens redeveloped the concept of “basic trust” in 1962, narrowed it down empirically and thus specifically addressed the first year of the baby's life . Claessens is bio-sociologically concerned with whether the infant even learns to develop trust in something (ie a "trust in trust" that will be effective in the future). According to him, in the very first period of life (in the "extra-uterine spring") every person acquires the basic attitude that he can trust situations and people, or he does not acquire them and then cannot make up for them in later life. This phase of life is also referred to as his “second”, namely the “socio-cultural” birth . This basic trust - as with its lack of basic mistrust - is decisive for all subsequent development of relationships with other people and for character formation, it is one of the cornerstones on which the development and expression of a healthy personality is based.

The “basic trust” is not identical to the “ trust ” dealt with in sociology , insofar as this presupposes alternative actions that can be controlled by the social actor . Rather, it is the prerequisite for its development.

Labelling

With both approaches, basic trust develops in very early childhood through the reliable, persistent, loving and caring attention of long-term caregivers (mostly parents). It creates the inner emotional security that later enables one to trust one's surroundings and to make contact with other people in the first place. Basic trust enables fearless engagement with the social environment.

So it is the basis for:

Trust in yourself, self-esteem, ability to love ( "I am worthy to be loved." "I feel secure." ),
Trust in others, in partnership, community ( "I trust you." "We love each other.", "I know I am understood and accepted." ) And
Trust in the whole, in the world ( "It's worth living." )

Lovelessness, neglect or abuse can lead to a deficient development of basic trust. This can be used to explain relationship and attachment problems of people. Consequential disorders can include distrust, depression, anxiety, aggressiveness and the like. a. m. be.

Therapeutic such Miss developments in early childhood can with the concept of Containing be met.

The difference between the two approaches, however, lies in the fact that the sociobiologist Claessens regards an infant's abnormal development as being unrecoverable much earlier (after the first year of life) than the psychoanalyst Erikson.

Examples

The following living conditions can endanger or prevent an adequate development of the basic trust:

The separation from the mother (permanent carer) or the complete neglect by her without a substitute attachment figure. This situation is a typical risk when babies are camped, at home or in hospital, but also when they are completely material or socio-psychic and can lead to total deprivation . If the child survives, then with constant suspicion, depression, anxiety, aggressiveness and delays in mental or motor development, etc. a. m. be expected.
If the infant is undesirable in the family household or with single parents and is perceived emotionally with mixed ( ambivalent ) feelings (tenderness, hatred, disregard), the development of the basic trust that depends on constant reliability can be severely damaged; the damage is counteracted if more seldom, but then reliable, donations are made from siblings, distant relatives or nursing staff.

literature

Dieter Claessens: Family and Value System , [1962], 4th, through. Edition, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1979 (This is where the concept of basic trust is developed.)
Erik H. Erikson, The Complete Life Cycle , Frankfurt am Main ²1992
Rüdiger Posth: From basic trust to self-confidence. The concept of attachment in the emotional and psychosocial development of the child , Waxmann Verlag, Münster 2007, ISBN 978-3-8309-1797-7
Jean Liedloff, "In Search of Lost Happiness", Verlag CHBeck, Munich 1980, ISBN 978-3-406-58587-6

Web links

Wiktionary: Basic trust - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

proof

↑ See Erik H. Erikson: Childhood and Society , trans. v. Marianne Eckhardt-Jaffe, Stuttgart 1999, p. 241 ff. (EA: Zurich 1957); Eckhardt-Jaffe translates “(basic) trust” as “basic trust”; alternatively, the term “basic trust” can be found in other translations.
↑ The experience of reliability in childhood has far-reaching consequences for our psychological development, is also the basic assumption of the attachment theory of the British psychiatrist John Bowlby . This theory says: A secure bond between toddler and primary caregiver is a prerequisite for being able to build stable relationships in adulthood. What basic trust was for Erikson , a secure bond is for Bowlby.
↑ According to other theories, the “basic mistrust” is also attributed to the shock at birth .

[1] See Erik H. Erikson: Childhood and Society , trans. v. Marianne Eckhardt-Jaffe, Stuttgart 1999, p. 241 ff. (EA: Zurich 1957); Eckhardt-Jaffe translates “(basic) trust” as “basic trust”; alternatively, the term “basic trust” can be found in other translations.

[2] The experience of reliability in childhood has far-reaching consequences for our psychological development, is also the basic assumption of the attachment theory of the British psychiatrist John Bowlby . This theory says: A secure bond between toddler and primary caregiver is a prerequisite for being able to build stable relationships in adulthood. What basic trust was for Erikson , a secure bond is for Bowlby.

[3] According to other theories, the “basic mistrust” is also attributed to the shock at birth .