The 8 types of trust: what are they?

One of the psychological variables that affect our day-to-day life and the activities we carry out is trust., which must be present in interpersonal relationships, but also at work and in sports.

Confidence is key to our well-being, especially self-confidence.

• Recommended article: "The 4 types of self-esteem: do you value yourself?"

trust types

But, what types of trust are there? How can we classify them? There are eight types of trust. Below we explain them with their different characteristics.

1. trust in others

Trust in others is a phenomenon that is often talked about a lot in interpersonal relationships, especially those with a partner. In our article “The 7 keys to having a healthy relationship” We have already explained that respect, fidelity, trust… are essential for loving relationships to work.

Human beings are social beings, and that is why we need others to live better and to enjoy greater psychological well-being and emotional. Having close relationships gives meaning to our lives, and having trusted people helps us to be happy.

Obviously, we cannot trust everyone since, on occasion, we can come across individuals who want to defraud, swindle or cheat us. take advantage of us, but especially those close to us who have shown us that we can trust them, we must give them a vote of confidence.

Trust is not something that comes standard although some experts think that it is innate, at least with respect to our relatives, and when we meet someone, one must earn it. Sincerity and credibility are some variables that increase or not trust that we can have in other people.

• Now, what happens when we lose trust in someone? Is it possible to recover it? We explain it to you in our article “9 tips to regain someone's trust”

2. self-confidence or self-efficacy

Self-efficacy is what is commonly known as self-confidence., a concept introduced by the Ukrainian-Canadian psychologist Albert Bandura in 1986, and which he discussed in his Theory of Social Learning. This well-known theory deals with the regulation of human motivation and action, which involves three types of expectations: situation-outcome expectations, action-outcome expectations, and self-efficacy perceived. Today I will talk about self-efficacy.

• To learn more, you can read our text “Albert Bandura's Theory of Social Learning”

Self-confidence is often confused with self-esteem, and although they are related, they are not the same. Self-esteem is the global assessment that a person has of himself, while self-confidence is Refers to self-assessment of one's ability to perform a task and carry out a objective.

It is a concept that is closely related to personal development, since high self-confidence allows to overcome the obstacles that may arise in the path of an individual when fighting for a goal. When a person has a high self-efficacy, he is very interested in the tasks in which he participates because he feels competent, sees the problems as stimulating challenges, experiences a high commitment to their interests and activities, and recovers quickly from their failures. Luckily, self-confidence can be worked on and improved.

Bandura believes that four important aspects are involved in a person's self-confidence: execution achievements, which are the successes and failures of past experiences, rather the perception of them and the frequency with which they appear. Vicarious observation or experience especially influences those situations in which the person does not have little experience when performing a task. Verbal persuasion (for example, words of encouragement) and the physiological state of the individual, including not Not only physical sensations but also emotional states influence how the person interprets the situation.

• If you want to know how to improve self-confidence, you can follow the steps that you will find in our article: “Self-confidence: discover the 7 keys to improve it”

3. false self-confidence

At times, some individuals appear to display high confidence when in fact they do not trust themselves. This is what is known as false self-confidence, a form of protection against the perception of low self-efficacy.

Subjects with false self-confidence can sometimes convince themselves that they trust themselves even though not be so, and they can even make positive self-verbalizations towards themselves, with phrases optimists. It is a type of self-deception that does not favor personal development at all, and that allows the person escape from the true internal state of self-confidence that in many cases is behind the "mask".

• This type of trust can bring negative consequences for the subject who experiences it, as you can see in our article “False self-confidence: the heavy mask of self-deception”

4. behavioral trust

It has to do with the behavior of the person, and it is the subjects' own ability to act positively or not, to overcome obstacles and make correct decisions that affect the behavior of the individual.

5. emotional trust

Emotions are key to people's well-being, and their correct management makes it possible for a person to be more or less happy. With the popularity of the term emotional intelligence, it is not surprising that we talk about emotional trust.

Some individuals fear their own emotions, but master the ability to understand and interpret one's own emotions in others, and the ability to regulate emotions to favor interpersonal relationships with other people, is possible with emotional trust.

6. spiritual confidence

Make reference to the faith that individuals have about life around them and the context in which they move.

7. simple trust

Some experts, like the biologist Humberto Maturana, think that trust may be innate.. It's what's known as simple trust, and we're born with it. It is automatic, like trust towards our parents. It is whole and complete.

8. Confidence fueled

However, throughout life and as a result of experiences, this simple trust can be shaped. Then we can maintain high trust in other people or mistrust can appear.