Trust, A Reflection

Trust invokes several thoughts revolving around friendship, family and romantic relationships. I would argue it goes beyond that as a basis of any form of social order. In Plutchik’s work, “Emotion – A Psychoevolutionary Synthesis”, not only are the 8 basic emotions, to include joy and trust, explained, the development of said emotions are given plenty of thought, starting with the basis of survival. In the case of trust, it is the concept of incorporation (Hokuma,2017). The most basic level of this is ingesting something and nourishing your body. This most basic level of trust develops in complexity by realizing a spectrum of intensity from acceptance to admiration which gives way to reinforcing memories of not only what is edible but also a comparison and contrast that develops into personal preference.

Its interesting to make the connection of nourishment and the emotion of trust, because when extending the emotion further beyond the food and drink that we consume to the people we encounter, the former becomes almost analogous of the latter. In a sense, we incorporate others into a different body, a group, and nourish that same body by supporting its systems or relationships through sharing and collaboration (changingminds.org,2016). This could take the from of any relationship of any scale , from an intimate one-on-one relationship to a diplomatic institution of nation states. On a personal level, it makes one wonder: “Do I associate food with people and things that I trust? Are the people that I invite to eat out with me and the people that I think about during meals my most trusted companions?”. The next time I hear, “Let’s discuss it over lunch”, from a boss to their employee, I will no longer think of it as simply a friendly gesture. When I see two people making dinner plans for their first date, I won’t consider it only a cliche. I would argue that both of the previously mentioned examples and many more of these meal centered social activities are excellent intuitive ways of building trust from the ground up by putting all parties in a primal instance of trust. Seems simple enough. If only, it were that straight forward.

Experience would demand of us to recognize that trust/acceptance is not something purely encountered independently of other emotions. When combined with the other base emotions that Plutchik describes, new emotional experiences emerge (Hokuma,2017). Those new emotions appear to form pairs that give further insight into trust/acceptance, itself. These are love/affection & Sentimentality, Submission & Dominance and Curiosity/Interest & Hope. The pairs could be identified respectively as empathetic, negotiating and nurturing. This is to imply that real trust seeks to not only simply accept, but to understand, to not only co-exist, but to cooperate, to not only encourage, but to contribute towards a common vision.

Let Us Build a House

Draw me Now
Draw me Close
I long for it

Our Shared Strength
A Bastion of Hope

An Ode to You & I
A Singing blanket of Solemn Hope
Draped in Ivory Conviction, Untempered
Given in familiar, laughable banter

I hold in you my waking dreams
your eyes give me yours in submissive calm

A scorning by unending sighs
A breeze of understanding
A quiet forest grows and welcomes these gentle winds

Our Home

 

Poem by Stephen Perro

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Sources

Hokum, (December 2017), Positive Psychology Articles, “Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions: What is it and How to Use it in Counseling?”, retrieved from https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/emotion-wheel/

Changingminds.org, (2016),Explanations, Evolution, “Plutchik’s Ten Postulates”, retrieved from http://changingminds.org/explanations/evolution/plutchnik_postulates.htm#10