Just World Belief: How People Are Influenced in India by The Concept of Just World Belief, Whether They Are More Inclined Towards Helping a Victim or Towards Derogation of a Victim?

Abstract

In this paper my study will analyze data collected from people in India. The purpose of this study is to see whether in India people believe in victim blaming in the case of an incident caused due to external causes or they try to compensate them. Just world belief plays a significant role in preserving people’s view in justice. Many people who believe the society is just are also more inclined towards the principle of just world belief. In many studies psychologists have studied the effect of just world belief in western societies. In western culture people-power distance relation is not huge as compared to India and western culture is an individualistic society as compared to India. In India crime rate is more as compared to western culture which also plays an important role. In India people hold a strong belief in karma which is basically “people get what they deserve”. Concept of karma is similar to just world belief. In India karma is one of the important factors which determines whether a person is more willing to contribute or blame the victim. The other factor which determines the willingness to help is income standard of the person. People who fall in upper class income status they are less willing to help and hold a stronger stand on victim blaming, whereas, people in middle class income group try to contribute more rather than victim blaming. People in middle class are more empathetic towards victims further they hold a strong view in karma and try to do well to others. According to me people belonging to middle class families try to donate more or find ways to help victims as compared to upper class people. As per the survey conducted, I will try to establish that “Indians when given an opportunity will compensate victims more and when asked to evaluate victim will derogate them and not compensate”. Opportunity plays an important role when it comes to deciding whether to compensate or derogate. This is not dependent on different cultures or types of society.