When do assumptions shatter? A prospective investigation of negative events and world assumptions

The present investigation examined the potential role of negative events (e.g., major illness, victimization, or loss of a loved one) in affecting people's fundamental beliefs about how the world works, or assumptive worlds. Two assumptive world dimensions were examined: (1) the belief that the world is benevolent---that is, that there is more good than bad in the world and that people are generally trustworthy; and (2) the belief that the world is meaningful---that is, that good and bad events are distributed in the world in a fair and controllable manner. The present study hypothesized that exposure to violence would result in decreased benevolence beliefs and that exposure to illness, injury, or the loss of loved ones would result in decreased meaningfulness beliefs. It was further hypothesized that the associations between negative events and world assumptions would be decreased among older individuals, those with more social support, and more religious or spiritual individuals.;A large, nationally representative sample of adults in the U.S. ( N = 2398) completed surveys inquiring about recent negative events, world assumptions, potential moderating variables, and other factors at five points in time over a three-year period. Multilevel modeling analyses were used to examine the within-person associations of categories of negative events with world assumptions and the potential moderating role of age, social support, and religiosity/spirituality in the negative event-world assumptions association. Results indicated that violence was associated with decreased benevolence beliefs but that loss of loved ones and community disasters predicted increased benevolence beliefs. In addition, while injury and illness predicted decreased meaningfulness beliefs, results for loss of loved ones were more equivocal, and violence predicted increased meaningfulness beliefs. Age and social support buffered the negative event-benevolence association as predicted, but religiosity/spirituality did not. Moreover, contrary to hypotheses, older individuals, those with more social support, and more religious/spiritual individuals had larger decreases in meaningfulness beliefs after negative events.;The associations between negative events and people's assumptive worlds appear to be more complex than previously believed. Changes in assumptive worlds after negative events may reflect increased wisdom, rather than shattered assumptions.