Abstract
According to the just-world theory, individuals have a need to believe that they live in a world where people generally get what they deserve and deserve what they get. Early researches on this idea focused on reactions to various types of victims and the alternative strategies for coping with threats of injustice, including action strategies such as helping and compensation to victims and cognitive strategies such as victim derogation and blame. As the development of the individual-difference measures of the belief in a just world, researchers view BJW as a positive coping mechanism with many psychological benefits. To various kinds of victims and witnesses, BJW functions as a personal resource or psychological buffer helping them to cope with the threats of their daily life, maintaining mental health, endowing trust in the fairness of the world, and investing to the long-term goals. The bidimensional structures of just-world belief are important to interpret its dual functions. Theoretical challenges are discussed.
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