PSYCHOLOGY OF TRUST

Dr. Bahman Dadgostar, Director, Hope Consulting Institute, USA

The Sun will overstep his measures, if he does, the Erinyes, the handmaids of Justice, will find him out.

HERACLITUS:  Early Greek philosopher

There are those who would place the discussion of trust as being limited to moral philosophy and religious study.  We would argue that, in the context of interpersonal relationships, trust is the foundation.  Since human beings are by nature social and dependent upon interpersonal relationships it can be understood, therefore, that humankind is intrinsically dependent upon a level of trustworthiness in order to thrive.  Since participants interested in Globalization for the Common Good are seriously concerned about justice, equity and the elimination of ignorance for all humans and we hope to encourage the health and well-being of all inhabitants of the earth, it behoves us to explore the concept of trustworthiness both in ourselves and in the institutions we support.

Interpersonal trust is about expectation regarding future behavior expressed in degrees of “trustworthy expectation”  always associated with risk and ranging from zero to nearly 100% regarding whether a person will behave with predictability or not.  This is generally a subjective expectation but it can also be encouraged from one person to another, for example as when a trusted confidante requests or pledges the trust for another relatively unknown person, such as in a letter of recommendation.

Trust is a situation of uncertainty, between knowing and not knowing, and as part of the interaction intentionality has to be considered.  Intentionality may not be evident and may take time and repeated experience to determine.  It may be helped by asking or observing the other’s beliefs, rules and standards.

There are three major components to trust:

• an attitude toward the trust situation (positive or negative),
• a behavioral response formulated by the situation anticipated; co-operation; possibly *a verbal contract, a cognitive response (what the person thinks about the risk).

BASIS:  THE PSYCHOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW

When evaluating potential trustworthiness of subjects it is valuable to ascertain what the first stage of life experience has been for the participants.  The first stage of life for humans corresponds to whether the person will be more trusting or more mistrusting and is reliant on the care given to the infant in its first year.  Reliable care leads to optimism and hope (trust in the future).  Unreliable care for whatever reason (illness, war, neglect, etc.) leads to worries and fears and mistrust.  This explanation is simplistic but for the sake of this brief paper sufficient: however keep in mind that human beings are very resilient and diverse and no general statement applies to everyone.

Reliable care throughout childhood is optimum continuing into adolescence.  When teenagers have continued stability and emotionally supportive families, this allows solid identity development and confidence.  Without these assistances and with experiencing too much criticism or abuse can lead to identity confusion and many concomitant social problems.

Identity confusion is shown by the person who does not trust himself and therefore does not trust others and develops a suspicious attitude.  This seriously interferes with generativity (accomplishments) and leads to stagnation, lack of interest/curiosity and dissatisfaction in life because the person distrusts himself and most others.

Carl Jung states, “Integrity means wholeness, totality, unity within the person who is well developed in all areas, who connects integrity with his ego.  The ego is the seat of subjective identity; the self is the seat of objective identity.  The self is the supreme psychic authority and subordinates the ego to its inner Imperial Deity.”  This also describes the person who is most likely to be trustworthy, reliable and responsible.  When similar evaluations are made for institutions the same principles apply.

Reference: Edinger F. Edward, Ego and Archetype Individuation and the religious Function of the Psyche. page 3.4 and 5. Shambhalla Boston and New York and London, 1992.

Copyright 2006 - Journal of Globalization for the Common Good - www.commongoodjournal.com