Covid-19 Lockdown in Italy as a Potential Transformative Experience: A Pilot Study

Transformation can be deemed as a process composed of specific emotional (e.g., awe) and cognitive components (worldview and mental schema) interacting together to trigger impactful experiences of transformation (TE). Several theories posited that one trigger of transformation can be something able to violate people’s current worldview. In Italy, the lockdown – requested by the Government to limit the consequences of pandemic-represented an unprecedented experience for Italian citizens. Although COVID-19 home confinement significantly impacted psychosocial wellbeing and encouraged the adoption of new communication technologies to overcome lockdown loneliness, no difference emerged in relation to lockdown intensity. However, the potential transformative impact of this event has not been tested yet. In this study, we measured fluctuations of nine healthy Italian people’s cognitive worldview and personality traits, as well as their disposition to live the complex emotion of awe in three timeframes (i.e., at the beginning of Italian Lockdown period, at the end, and one month after the end of the lockdown). No significant changes emerged from data analyses, thus suggesting that, despite the potential impact of this worldwide event, people’s stable worldview, personality factors, and complex emotion dispositions persisted, at least, immediately after the first lockdown period.