The Social Value of Expressing Personal and General Belief in a Just World in Different Contexts

Hélder V Alves,Bernard Gangloff,Sören Umlauft

doi:10.1007/s11211-018-0306-9

Abstract

Research conducted in France and Portugal has consistently found that expressing high versus low Belief in a Personal Just World (BJW-P) is more socially valued. Results concerning the Belief in a General Just World (BJW-G) have been mixed. We propose this reflects a higher resistance of BJW-P social value to contextual changes. Testing this idea was the main goal of three experimental studies conducted in France, Germany and Portugal. In Study 1 (N = 283) participants expressed higher BJW-G when asked to convey a positive versus a negative image in a job application at a bank. The opposite pattern showed up when they applied for a job at a Human Rights NGO, an employment assistance institution and a trade union. Participants expressed higher BJW-P in all contexts, except at the trade union (no significant differences). In Study 2 (N = 489) participants judged bogus candidates who expressed high or low BJW-P/G while applying for a job at the same contexts. The patterns of judgments replicated those of self-presentations in Study 1. In Study 3 (N = 158), participants were asked to judge targets who expressed high versus moderate versus low BJW-P at a trade union. The former target was more socially valued than the other two. High versus low BJW-P expression was associated with higher stamina and less unadjusted self-enhancement. We conclude that in Western societies the expression of BJW-P is more central to the legitimation of the status quo and that of BJW-G is more context sensitive.

Highlights

Research on the social value of belief in a just world (BJW) expression has neglected the role of context in the matter
We aimed to ascertain whether the expression of higher degrees of BJW-P and BJW-G is: 1), especially valued in an organizational context associated with economic liberalism, as suggested by Alves and Correia (2010b); 2) more or less valued across organizational contexts which aim to decrease various types of disadvantage
As predicted by Hypothesis 4, in the former two cases, participants used higher scores to convey a positive rather than a negative image (M = 1.52, SD = 2.49, and M = 0.53, SD = 2.83), t(139) = 2.23, p = .03, d = 0.61, and t(140) = 7.22, p < .001, d = 0.33, respectively. They used equivalent scores when applying for a job at a trade union (M = -0.04, SD = 2.89), t(139) = -0.17, p = .87, d = 0.01. This is the first study to address the role of context in the expression of BJW-G

Summary

Introduction

Research on the social value of BJW expression has neglected the role of context in the matter. BJW-G better predicts such phenomena as victim derogation, punishment of offenders, harshness to the poor and defence of the status quo This and other correlational (as well as quasi-experimental) research have used several scales aiming to measure the motivation to believe that the world is just for the self, for other people and the groups they are members of (e.g., Correia, Vala, & Aguiar, 2001; Gangloff, Abdellaoui, & Personnaz, 2007; Iatridis & Fousiani, 2009; Kehra, Harvey, & Callan, 2014; Lima-Nunes, Pereira, & Correia, 2013; Otto & Schmidt, 2007; Sutton et al, 2008; van den Bos, & Maas, 2009; for reviews, see Furnham, 2003; Hafer & Bègue, 2005; Hafer & Sutton, 2016). As we will develop most research on the very expression of BJW has put into evidence both spheres of justice, especially BJW-P, as normative discourses that serve important legitimizing functions (Alves & Correia, 2008; Testé, Maisonneuve, Assilaméhou, & Perrin, 2012; for a review, see Gangloff, Soudan, & Auzoult, 2014)

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