Does the belief in a just world bring happiness? Causal relationships among belief in a just world, life satisfaction and mood

Abstract

Belief in a just world (BJW) has been shown to be positively correlated with the two components of subjective wellbeing (SWB): life satisfaction and positive affect. Although both directions of causality are theoretically possible and the BJW theory explicitly states that direction of causality is from BJW to SWB, until now the causal direction of these associations had not been empirically tested. The three experimental studies presented in this paper include manipulations of either BJW, mood or life satisfaction. A total of 338 undergraduate students participated. There were no effects of experimentally induced mood changes on BJW (Study 1) but the saliency of life satisfaction reinforced BJW (Study 2). An increase in self-reported life satisfaction when BJW is primed was found (Study 3), although the activation of BJW had no impact on the mood of the participants (Study 3). Therefore, the present results show that transient affective states do not influence or are influenced by BJW, and that this relationship is present only for the more stable affective dispositions. These studies therefore support the bilateral character of the association between life satisfaction and BJW.