Belief in a Just World and Attitudes Toward Immigrants and Foreign Workers: A Cultural Comparison Between Hawaii and Germany

Abstract

University students in Hawaii (N= 171) and in Germany (N= 61) completed the 6‐item Belief in a Just World Scale (BJWS; Dalbert, Montada, & Schmitt, 1987), an instrument developed in Germany to measure general just world belief. Results indicated that the BJWS is equally well suited to measure just world belief in an American sample. Subjects also completed a short instrument to assess justice judgments about the situation of a disadvantaged group (in Hawaii: Pacific Island immigrants; in Germany: foreign workers). For both samples, the disadvantaged group's situation was judged as more just by subjects with a greater belief in a just world and by those who were more socially similar to the disadvantaged group. Compared to students in Germany, those from Hawaii held stronger beliefs in a just world. Results were discussed in terms of generality and cultural specifity of the just world belief.