CORONAVIRUS AND OUR ASSUMPTIVE WORLDS
(Originally published as a blog post on March 19, 2020.)
Less than three months ago, many of us were making New Year’s resolutions or setting our goals for 2020. I was trying to decide on my “word of the year,” eventually settling on “explore.”
Lately it’s crossed my mind that a more fitting “word of the year” for 2020 might have been “survive.”
Because everything has changed.
It’s not just the world as a whole that has changed. Our individual “assumptive worlds” have been shattered.
I first came across the term “assumptive world” while doing research for one of my books. The term was coined by psychologist C.M. Parkes in 1975. He described an individual’s assumptive world as a “strongly held set of assumptions about the world and the self which is confidently maintained and used as a means of recognizing, planning and acting.”
While at the time I was primarily interested in how the term, “assumptive world,” applied to grief, it has meaningful applications to how we process any traumatic event or circumstance.
It was psychologist Ronnie Janoff-Bulman who went on to develop the “assumptive world theory” in 1992. The basic precepts of the theory are that 1) the world is a largely safe or “benevolent” place, 2) there is a meaningful connection between behavior or actions and subsequent outcomes, and 3) as worthy (good) individuals, we can control positive or negative outcomes.
Over the years the assumptive world theory has been accepted by many, but not all, psychologists. Although there may be some disagreement among the experts, I believe the theory can be helpful in trying to process not only grief but other life-altering events.
Its application to the current coronavirus crisis is one example.
We all have basic individual assumptions that shape our worldviews and our views of ourselves. These assumptions are informed by our life experiences and core beliefs, so our “assumptive worlds” can differ. For example, the assumptive world of someone who had an abusive childhood is probably going to look quite different from the assumptive world of someone who was raised in a loving, nonviolent household.
In adulthood our assumptive worlds are further developed and become more firmly entrenched in our psyches. When troubling events call our assumptions into question, we make adjustments and pronounce ourselves “resilient.”
And then something happens that is so far beyond the pale that it shatters our assumptive world to the extent that we wonder if we can recover.
Often it is the death of a loved one. Sometimes it’s a medical diagnosis that dramatically changes day-to-day life. It could be a traumatic brain injury from a roadside bomb in a foreign land.
Or it might be a heretofore unknown virus that could potentially lead to the deaths of millions of people—a virus from which not a single person on earth had immunity when it first appeared.
The coronavirus has shattered all our assumptive worlds.
According to the assumptive world theory, the first core assumption is that the world is largely a benevolent or safe place. Obviously, the coronavirus has made us feel spectacularly unsafe. We can no longer risk standing next to another person, much less shaking their hand or giving them a hug. Seemingly overnight, travel, socializing, work, school, and play have become dangerous activities. And any sense of security we placed in our economy or personal financial resources has disappeared.
The second precept of the assumptive world theory deals with cause and effect. It is left to the scientists to determine the initial cause of the virus; the effect is obvious. But we still feel a need to put what we know (or think we know, as it changes daily) into a meaningful context. We were quick to adopt the assumption, based on the experts’ declarations, that we had a formula: Age + Underlying Health Conditions = Those More Likely to Die from coronavirus. If we feel that makes sense, we don’t have to adjust our individual assumptions about cause and effect as much. However, we are just at the beginning of this pandemic and we don’t yet know what the outcomes will be, or whether a tidy formula is going to explain all infections and/or deaths.
Beyond the virus itself, virtually all of us are feeling the effects of this unexpectedly massive problem we did not cause. As workers, bosses, or business owners, we were doing exactly what we were supposed to be doing, yet we are now left wondering when we will have steady work (or, for some of us, “gigs”) again. Thus the second precept of the assumptive world theory—that cause and effect are predictable and meaningful—is being challenged in an unprecedented way.
The third element of the assumptive world theory concerns whether we can, as “worthy” or “good” individuals, control whether an outcome is positive or negative. We believe our behavior and choices inform the consequences of those behaviors and choices. Coronavirus is wreaking havoc with this belief, as we are learning how little control we actually have over external aspects of our lives. Regardless of whether we consider ourselves “worthy,” a positive or negative outcome as it relates to the coronavirus may be out of our hands.
In spite of all the chaos and uncertainty, most of us believe that this virus is not going to wipe out humankind, so the essential question going forward will be:
How do we all rebuild our assumptive worlds after they have been shattered by the devastation of the coronavirus?
Psychologists acknowledge that there is no one-size-fits-all formula for how to rebuild our assumptive worlds. In time the epidemiologists will likely have an in-depth understanding of the science behind this virus and they will come up with a vaccine, but the possibly devastating personal consequences of this virus—physical, emotional, financial, etc.—are not matters of science.
They are matters of loss.
As someone who has had to rebuild her shattered assumptive world more than once over the course of her life, I know that it can take many years of adjusting and adapting in order to come to terms with a new assumptive world. Even those who have a strong faith can struggle. As this virus tightens its grip, some folks have already lost loved ones and more deaths will undoubtedly follow. And as was the case during the 2008 recession, some people will never recover financially from what happens in 2020. Their previous assumptive world of economic security will no longer exist, and they will be faced with reorganizing their assumptions around their new personal circumstances.
Psychologist C.M. Parkes’ original definition of an assumptive world described “assumptions that are… confidently maintained…” Confidence is being shaken, and some will take longer than others to develop confidence again.
Psychologist Thomas Attig once called grief a process of “relearning the world” and said it is “a matter of coming to know how to go on in the world where so much of what we have taken for granted… is no longer supportable or practicable.” I believe his words can also apply to the current crisis we are experiencing.
At the moment it seems far more likely that most of us will know those who experience non-death losses as a result of coronavirus rather than a death loss, but I think some of the advice I have given to those who want to comfort a widow can be adapted to comforting those whose assumptive worlds have been shattered by non-death losses:
I love hearing about all the ways in which people are trying to uplift each other—spreading positivity and discovering silver linings and focusing on the good. We need all of that right now. Seeing each other through this crisis can take many forms, and we all have different gifts. Spreading love and cheer, listening, empathizing, praying, providing material support… With all of these, we will be able to see each other through this crisis and rebuild all our assumptive worlds.
Our collective “word of the year” is now “courage.”
If you are struggling emotionally with the effects of the coronavirus, you can call the National Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990 and speak with a trained counselor. (You can also text TalkWithUs to 66746.)
Copyright 2020. Stephanie Larkin & Ahadi Publications. All Rights Reserved.
Less than three months ago, many of us were making New Year’s resolutions or setting our goals for 2020. I was trying to decide on my “word of the year,” eventually settling on “explore.”
Lately it’s crossed my mind that a more fitting “word of the year” for 2020 might have been “survive.”
Because everything has changed.
It’s not just the world as a whole that has changed. Our individual “assumptive worlds” have been shattered.
I first came across the term “assumptive world” while doing research for one of my books. The term was coined by psychologist C.M. Parkes in 1975. He described an individual’s assumptive world as a “strongly held set of assumptions about the world and the self which is confidently maintained and used as a means of recognizing, planning and acting.”
While at the time I was primarily interested in how the term, “assumptive world,” applied to grief, it has meaningful applications to how we process any traumatic event or circumstance.
It was psychologist Ronnie Janoff-Bulman who went on to develop the “assumptive world theory” in 1992. The basic precepts of the theory are that 1) the world is a largely safe or “benevolent” place, 2) there is a meaningful connection between behavior or actions and subsequent outcomes, and 3) as worthy (good) individuals, we can control positive or negative outcomes.
Over the years the assumptive world theory has been accepted by many, but not all, psychologists. Although there may be some disagreement among the experts, I believe the theory can be helpful in trying to process not only grief but other life-altering events.
Its application to the current coronavirus crisis is one example.
We all have basic individual assumptions that shape our worldviews and our views of ourselves. These assumptions are informed by our life experiences and core beliefs, so our “assumptive worlds” can differ. For example, the assumptive world of someone who had an abusive childhood is probably going to look quite different from the assumptive world of someone who was raised in a loving, nonviolent household.
In adulthood our assumptive worlds are further developed and become more firmly entrenched in our psyches. When troubling events call our assumptions into question, we make adjustments and pronounce ourselves “resilient.”
And then something happens that is so far beyond the pale that it shatters our assumptive world to the extent that we wonder if we can recover.
Often it is the death of a loved one. Sometimes it’s a medical diagnosis that dramatically changes day-to-day life. It could be a traumatic brain injury from a roadside bomb in a foreign land.
Or it might be a heretofore unknown virus that could potentially lead to the deaths of millions of people—a virus from which not a single person on earth had immunity when it first appeared.
The coronavirus has shattered all our assumptive worlds.
According to the assumptive world theory, the first core assumption is that the world is largely a benevolent or safe place. Obviously, the coronavirus has made us feel spectacularly unsafe. We can no longer risk standing next to another person, much less shaking their hand or giving them a hug. Seemingly overnight, travel, socializing, work, school, and play have become dangerous activities. And any sense of security we placed in our economy or personal financial resources has disappeared.
The second precept of the assumptive world theory deals with cause and effect. It is left to the scientists to determine the initial cause of the virus; the effect is obvious. But we still feel a need to put what we know (or think we know, as it changes daily) into a meaningful context. We were quick to adopt the assumption, based on the experts’ declarations, that we had a formula: Age + Underlying Health Conditions = Those More Likely to Die from coronavirus. If we feel that makes sense, we don’t have to adjust our individual assumptions about cause and effect as much. However, we are just at the beginning of this pandemic and we don’t yet know what the outcomes will be, or whether a tidy formula is going to explain all infections and/or deaths.
Beyond the virus itself, virtually all of us are feeling the effects of this unexpectedly massive problem we did not cause. As workers, bosses, or business owners, we were doing exactly what we were supposed to be doing, yet we are now left wondering when we will have steady work (or, for some of us, “gigs”) again. Thus the second precept of the assumptive world theory—that cause and effect are predictable and meaningful—is being challenged in an unprecedented way.
The third element of the assumptive world theory concerns whether we can, as “worthy” or “good” individuals, control whether an outcome is positive or negative. We believe our behavior and choices inform the consequences of those behaviors and choices. Coronavirus is wreaking havoc with this belief, as we are learning how little control we actually have over external aspects of our lives. Regardless of whether we consider ourselves “worthy,” a positive or negative outcome as it relates to the coronavirus may be out of our hands.
In spite of all the chaos and uncertainty, most of us believe that this virus is not going to wipe out humankind, so the essential question going forward will be:
How do we all rebuild our assumptive worlds after they have been shattered by the devastation of the coronavirus?
Psychologists acknowledge that there is no one-size-fits-all formula for how to rebuild our assumptive worlds. In time the epidemiologists will likely have an in-depth understanding of the science behind this virus and they will come up with a vaccine, but the possibly devastating personal consequences of this virus—physical, emotional, financial, etc.—are not matters of science.
They are matters of loss.
As someone who has had to rebuild her shattered assumptive world more than once over the course of her life, I know that it can take many years of adjusting and adapting in order to come to terms with a new assumptive world. Even those who have a strong faith can struggle. As this virus tightens its grip, some folks have already lost loved ones and more deaths will undoubtedly follow. And as was the case during the 2008 recession, some people will never recover financially from what happens in 2020. Their previous assumptive world of economic security will no longer exist, and they will be faced with reorganizing their assumptions around their new personal circumstances.
Psychologist C.M. Parkes’ original definition of an assumptive world described “assumptions that are… confidently maintained…” Confidence is being shaken, and some will take longer than others to develop confidence again.
Psychologist Thomas Attig once called grief a process of “relearning the world” and said it is “a matter of coming to know how to go on in the world where so much of what we have taken for granted… is no longer supportable or practicable.” I believe his words can also apply to the current crisis we are experiencing.
At the moment it seems far more likely that most of us will know those who experience non-death losses as a result of coronavirus rather than a death loss, but I think some of the advice I have given to those who want to comfort a widow can be adapted to comforting those whose assumptive worlds have been shattered by non-death losses:
- Acknowledge and validate their loss, whatever it is. You may not think it’s a big deal that their kids will no longer be able to participate in soccer and other extracurricular activities, but it might be to them.
- Do more listening than talking.
- Don’t try to rush them through the process of rebuilding their assumptive world. Your assumptive world is not theirs. Restoration of confidence and feeling that one has some sort of control can take a long time.
- Try to refrain from comparing losses. Perspective, like confidence, can take time to regain and pointing out that “it could be worse” or “at least you still have (blank)” feels like one’s loss is being diminished. Everyone knows they should be thankful if their loved ones haven’t died from this virus, but the other losses are still painful and impactful.
- Offer practical help if you are able. This can mean any number of things in this current crisis—helping out financially, offering child care (when it’s safe to do so) so the person who has lost a job can attend a job interview, searching out resources that might be useful to the person given their particular situation, etc.
- Stick by the person even if or when you find you don’t relate to their loss (i.e., your life eventually goes back to near-normal but theirs doesn’t). Many widows will tell you that one of the hardest things about rebuilding their assumptive worlds was doing it alone.
I love hearing about all the ways in which people are trying to uplift each other—spreading positivity and discovering silver linings and focusing on the good. We need all of that right now. Seeing each other through this crisis can take many forms, and we all have different gifts. Spreading love and cheer, listening, empathizing, praying, providing material support… With all of these, we will be able to see each other through this crisis and rebuild all our assumptive worlds.
Our collective “word of the year” is now “courage.”
If you are struggling emotionally with the effects of the coronavirus, you can call the National Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990 and speak with a trained counselor. (You can also text TalkWithUs to 66746.)
Copyright 2020. Stephanie Larkin & Ahadi Publications. All Rights Reserved.