Chapter 7 Erikson: Post-Freudian Theory 205characteristic of each stage of development. However, the epigenetic principle sug-
gests that all the other boxes would be filled (as in Figure 7.1), though with other
items less characteristic of their stage of psychosocial development. Each item in the
ensemble is vital to personality development, and each is related to all the others.
Infancy
The first psychosocial stage is infancy, a period encompassing approximately the
first year of life and paralleling Freud’s oral phase of development. However, Erikson’s
model adopts a broader focus than Freud’s oral stage, which was concerned almost
exclusively with the mouth. To Erikson (1963, 1989), infancy is a time of incor-
poration, with infants “taking in” not only through their mouth but through their
various sense organs as well. Through their eyes, for example, infants take in visual
stimuli. As they take in food and sensory information, infants learn to either trust
or mistrust the outside world, a situation that gives them realistic hope. Infancy,
then, is marked by the oral-sensory psychosexual mode, the psychosocial crisis of
basic trust versus basic mistrust, and the basic strength of hope.
Oral-Sensory Mode
Erikson’s expanded view of infancy is expressed in the term oral-sensory, a phrase
that includes infants’ principal psychosexual mode of adapting. The oral-sensory
stage is characterized by two modes of incorporation—receiving and accepting what
is given. Infants can receive even in the absence of other people; that is, they can
take in air through the lungs and can receive sensory data without having to manip-
ulate others. The second mode of incorporation, however, implies a social context.
Infants not only must get, but they also must get someone else to give. This early
training in interpersonal relations helps them learn to eventually become givers. In
getting other people to give, they learn to trust or mistrust other people, thus setting
up the basic psychosocial crisis of infancy, namely, basic trust versus basic mistrust.
Basic Trust Versus Basic Mistrust
Infants’ most significant interpersonal relations are with their primary caregiver,
ordinarily their mother. If they realize that their mother will provide food regularly,
then they begin to learn basic trust; if they consistently hear the pleasant, rhythmic
voice of their mother, then they develop more basic trust; if they can rely on an
exciting visual environment, then they solidify basic trust even more. In other
words, if their pattern of accepting things corresponds with culture’s way of giving
things, then infants learn basic trust. In contrast, they learn basic mistrust if they
find no correspondence between their oral-sensory needs and their environment.
Basic trust is ordinarily syntonic, and basic mistrust, dystonic. Nevertheless,
infants must develop both attitudes. Too much trust makes them gullible and
vulnerable to the vagaries of the world, whereas too little trust leads to frustration,
anger, hostility, cynicism, or depression.
Both trust and mistrust are inevitable experiences of infants. All babies who
have survived have been fed and otherwise cared for and therefore have some
reason to trust. In addition, all have been frustrated by pain, hunger, or discomfort,
and thus have a reason to mistrust. Erikson believed that some ratio of trust and