ABSTRACT
Reactions to negative life events—whether they be crimes, accidents, or illnesses— depend on more than the events themselves. Knowing that someone was raped, was severely injured in an accident, or has AIDS is not sufficient to anticipate how either these victims or observers will react to the event. If we are to predict victims' reactions, we must know their perceptions of the event, of themselves, as well as of the broader social world (Janoff-Bulman & Frieze, 1983; Janoff-Bulman & Lang, 1988; Janoff-Bulman & Timko, 1987; Tait& Silver, 1989; Taylor, 1983; Wortman & Silver, 1987). Similarly, predicting observers' reactions to misfortunes requires knowing how they perceive various characteristics of the victim, including the victim's attractiveness, his or her personal responsibility for the event, and so on (Coates, Wortman, & Abbey, 1979; Lemer, 1980; Weiner, Perry, & Magnusson, 1988).
