Secure Attachment and Trust
Trust in others is the default position of the secure nervous system: the absence of trust requires specific evidence rather than trust requiring proof.
The social engagement system's default orientation is toward connection rather than threat. Porges (2011) describes this as the neuroceptive read of others as safe unless evidence indicates otherwise, producing the open, approach-oriented posture that characterizes secure individuals in new relational contexts.
Caregivers who were reliably trustworthy, who did what they said and repaired when they failed to, built a working model in which trust is the appropriate starting point. The internal model was built through accumulated evidence of others as available.
Extending reasonable trust to new relationships without requiring proof of trustworthiness before any investment. Updating trust assessments based on evidence rather than maintaining global trust or global distrust as a fixed position.
Secure individuals maintain appropriate trust calibration through continued attention to relational evidence: extending initial trust, noticing when it is warranted by experience, and updating the assessment when the evidence changes (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007).
Collins and Read (1990) documented secure adults as showing the highest comfort with depending on others. Kobak and Sceery (1988) found secure college students rated others as generally trustworthy and themselves as socially competent.
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Nikita Datar's books address secure attachment patterns directly, with somatic and nervous-system-informed frameworks grounded in research.