How Can I Trust You? The Role of Facial Trustworthiness in the Development of Epistemic and Interpersonal Trust

Abstract

Recently, researchers from developmental and clinical psychology highlighted epistemic trust (ET) as a key factor for personality disorders. ET is intended as the mental openness to information coming from others during social exchanges. ET develops from signals called ostensive cues, delivered through facial expressions during interactions in a secure attachment context. Similarly interpersonal trust (IT) refers to the perception of others as not harmful, which is also developed through secure attachment relationships. Our purpose is to suggest a conceptualization of ET as a specific facet of IT. We hypothesize that positive experiences of caregiving promote IT development that includes a specific sense of trust toward others’ knowledge. Moreover, we suggest that the early ability to infer a judgment of trustworthiness from facial cues is the starting point for developing both IT and ET. This conceptualization supports the role of considering both IT and ET in the development of borderline pathology.

The interplay of mentalization and epistemic trust: a protective mechanism against emotional dysregulation in adolescent internalizing symptoms

“…One key concept associated with mentalizing is epistemic trust (ET), which is the ability to assess the trustworthiness, relevance, and general applicability of information coming from external sources (Duschinsky & Foster, 2021 ). The secure attachment context promotes ET’s development, encouraging individuals to be open to social learning (Milesi et al ., 2023 ; Parolin et al ., 2023 ). In contrast, individuals who face childhood adversities may generate higher levels of epistemic disruption, i.e.…”

Different epistemic stances for different traumatic experiences: implications for mentalization

“…The interplay between mentalization and ET has been theoretically explored, especially in the therapeutic relationship (Fonagy & Allison, 2014 ). Yet, given the novelty of its operationalization, only a few contributions have explored its associations with mentalization and maladaptive outcomes (Locati et al ., 2022 ; Locati et al , 2023 ; Milesi et al ., 2023 ; Orme et al ., 2019 ; Tanzilli et al ., 2022 ). Moreover, as ET has its roots in early developmental experiences, disruptions in these experiences ( i.e ., traumatic experiences) might hinder the development of ET (Gergely, 2013 ; Sperber et al ., 2010 ).…”

Mentalizing in psychotherapeutic processes of patients with eating disorders

“…However, we cannot rule out that the finding is unspecific and for example due to the typical structure of a psychotherapy session: At the beginning the focus is on getting into contact and establishing a safe atmosphere, before more challenging topics are discussed. However, despite the general increase in RF, there could be fluctuations in RF that depend, for example, on the extent to which a patient feels perceived by their therapist and considers their interventions to be credible and trustworthy (41,42).…”