Abstract
Trust in parental support and subsequent support seeking behavior, a hallmark of secure attachment, result from experiences with sensitive parents during distress. However, the underlying developmental mechanism remains unclear. We tested the hypothesis that trust is the result of an expectancy-learning process condtional upon contingency (the probability that caregiver support has a positive outcome). We developed a new paradigm in which a novel caregiver provides help to solve a problem. Contingency of the caregiver's support was manipulated and participants' trust in the caregiver and their help seeking behavior was measured in three independent samples. The hypothesis was supported suggesting that trust and support seeking result from an expectancy-learning process. These findings' potential contribution to attachment theory is discussed.
Highlights
The extent to which children are able to subjectively trust in primary caregivers as a resource to rely upon when experiencing distress has an important impact on developmental outcomes in several domains such as psychopathology, academic success, social competence, and general health [1,2,3]
Trust development has been most consistently studied in the context of attachment research that considers trust as a hallmark of secure attachment [4]
This research has been limited to cross-sectional and longitudinal studies testing the correlations between broadband measures of sensitive parenting and attachment
Summary
The extent to which children are able to subjectively trust in primary caregivers as a resource to rely upon when experiencing distress has an important impact on developmental outcomes in several domains such as psychopathology, academic success, social competence, and general health [1,2,3]. Trust development has been most consistently studied in the context of attachment research that considers trust as a hallmark of secure attachment [4]. It has been suggested that trust develops when caregivers are consistently sensitive and responsive [5, 6]. Little is known about the specific mechanisms that explain trust development in day to day or moment to moment interactions. Broadband studies on parenting and attachment have been unable to explain the majority of the variance in attachment [6], for which little robust explanation exists to date [7, 8]. The current study aimed to experimentally investigate the development of subjective trust at a more micro-process level
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