Trust of unknown others arises by generalizing from one’s own trustworthy self

Evidence

If the child establishes its own self by differentiating ‘I’ and ‘You’, the first thing it has to do is unlearn its first, practically unmotivated, act of trust and find a form of trust which takes account of this differentiation. The learning process will not force the separation of I and You into complete and absolute distinctions. On the contrary, the You stays as ‘another I’. The learner reasons from himself to others and is thus in the position to generalize from his experiences with others. Because he feels he is prepared to honour the trust of some unknown person, he is also able to show trust to others. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 158

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘You as another I’ mechanism is the micro-foundation of why Stevens can extend trust to Lord Darlington’s institution — because his own self is constituted by honoring that trust, the institution becomes an ‘another I’ he cannot question. — connects to: Arguments linked to self gain credibility via generalized self-positivity. — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition: Attitudes,…, 121
• QUESTION: This mechanism — trusting others by reasoning from one’s own trustworthiness — is a striking psychological claim worth checking against developmental evidence.