Just-world Beliefs Research Articles

A prospective investigation of the relationship between just-world beliefs and the desire for revenge after September 11, 2001.

We prospectively examined the relationship between individuals' belief in a just world and their desire for revenge against the perpetrators of the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States. Eighty-three undergraduate students who had completed a measure of just-world beliefs prior to the terrorist attacks were assessed approximately 2 months following the attacks. The more strongly they had endorsed just-world beliefs prior to the attacks, the more distressed they felt about the attacks and the more they desired revenge. Furthermore, the relationship between belief in a just world and the desire for revenge was mediated by feelings of distress in response to the terrorist attacks. The results point to the importance of justice beliefs in understanding responses to the terrorist attacks.

Belief in a Just World and Redistributive Politics

International surveys reveal wide differences between the views held in different countries concerning the causes of wealth or poverty and the extent to which people are responsible for their own fate. At the same time, social ethnographies and experiments by psychologists demonstrate individuals' recurrent struggle with cognitive dissonance as they seek to maintain, and pass on to their children, a view of the world where effort ultimately pays off and everyone gets their deserts. This paper offers a model that helps explain: i) why most people feel such a need to believe in a just world; ii) why this need, and therefore the prevalence of the belief, varies considerably across countries; iii) the implications of this phenomenon for international differences in political ideology, levels of redistribution, labor supply, aggregate income, and popular perceptions of the poor. The model shows in particular how complementarities arise endogenously between individuals' desired beliefs or ideological choices, resulting in two equilibria. A first, American equilibrium is characterized by a high prevalence of just-world beliefs among the population and relatively laissez-faire policies. The other, European equilibrium is characterized by more pessimism about the role of effort in economic outcomes and a more extensive welfare state. More generally, the paper develops a theory of collective beliefs and motivated cognitions, including those concerning money (consumption) and happiness, as well as religion.

The Mind and the Future

We try to identify the configurations of beliefs and goals typical of the various kinds of representation of the future: forecasts, hopes and fears, and a particular kind of anticipatory representations that we call `hope-casts' and `fear-casts', which are supposed to imply not only forecasts and either hopes or fears, but also a normative component according to which the expected event `ought' to happen. We address the psychological consequences of hope-casts, either before or after the expected event comes true or false, and point to the sense of injustice and loss produced by violated hope-casts. We also address individual differences in dealing with violated hope-casts, and the possible role played by just-world beliefs, optimism and defensive pessimism. Finally, we compare our model with related approaches, and stress the negative potential of hope-casts in terms of the negative attitudes associated with them, which hamper people's ability to cope with disappointment.

Punishing Individuals for Their Infirmities: Effects of Personal Responsibility, Just‐World Beliefs, and In‐Group/Out‐Group Status

This research examined how derogation of cancer victims was moderated by (a) the perceived responsibility of the victim, (b) individual differences in just‐world beliefs, and (c) whether the victim was an in‐group versus out‐group member. Participants formed an impression of an in‐group or an out‐group member who was known to have a terminal case of cancer. Half of the participants were informed that the target person was partially responsible for this medical condition, whereas the remaining participants were not given this information. Results showed that blaming judgments of high versus low responsibility targets were moderated by just‐world beliefs, but this was only true when the person being judged was an out‐group member. The implications of these results for research and theory on differential processing of in‐group versus out‐group members are discussed.

Just-World Beliefs and Attributions of Causal Responsibility Among Korean Adolescents

This article explores Korean adolescents' perceptions of justice and attributions of causal responsibility for an event presented in a narrative scenario. Factors varied in the design included partici pant's gender (male vs. female), scenario target person's gender (male vs. female), the target person's personal history (good vs. bad), and the event outcome (positive vs. negative). Although, objectively, the scenario event outcome was random (a lottery), the majority of participants interpreted it in terms of Korean just-world beliefs. Quantitative analyses showed that the adolescents reported higher degrees of justice when the scenario person and outcome valences were correspondent than when they were noncorrespondent. Quali tative analyses of the adolescents' free-response comments about the scenario revealed justice perceptions and attributions of causal responsibility that were contingent on the target person's and the justice authority's (Haneul) fulfillment of role obligations pre scribed by Korean just-world beliefs (inkwaeungbo).

The Protestant Work Ethic and Just World Beliefs in Great Britain and India

This study examined Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) and Just World Beliefs (JWB) in Great Britain and India. Secondary school children, university students and adults completed seven PWE questionnaires and the JWB questionnaire. A three‐way (sex × occupational status × nationality) ANOVA showed highly significant main effects, particularly for nationality, but few significant interactions. Generally females more than males, Indians more than Britons, and schoolchildren more than adults endorse the PWE and JWB. Possible experimental artifacts and moderator variables are considered along with the possibility that genuine cultural differences were found. These results are discussed in terms of the relevant literature on cross‐cultural studies of the PWE and BJW.

Sphere-Specific Just World Beliefs and Attitudes to AIDS

This paper is predicated on the idea that Just World Beliefs (JWB) are multidimensional. It is proposed that individual difference in JWB are divided into three components referring to different spheres of behavior: personal, interpersonal, and social political (Paulus, 1983). A questionnaire was specifically devised to assess these beliefs. There was some evidence of internal reliability. A construct validity study is reported to substantiate the use of the new instrument. It examined the relationship between JWB and the attitudes to AIDS. As predicted, JWB beliefs were closely related to five attitudinal factors concerning AIDS. Socio-political just world beliefs seemed most closely linked to attitudes to AIDS, though the size of the correlations suggests the relationship was not very substantial. The structure of JWB are discussed along with other relevant research on attitudes to AIDS.

Evaluation of Rape Victim by Men and Women with High and Low Belief in A Just World

Men with high belief in a just world evaluated a videotaped rape victim more negatively than did men with low belief in a just world. Women with high belief in a just world were less negative toward the rape victim than women with low belief in a just world. Participants with low belief in a just world recommended significantly longer prison sentences for the rapist. Evaluations of the rapist and rape victim were not influenced by information about the outcome of the case (the rapist was never caught, the rapist was caught and sentenced to either 1 or 15 years in prison). Implications for just-world beliefs of jurors in rape trials were discussed.

Perceptions of Wife Abuse: Effects of Gender, Attitudes toward Women, and Just-World Beliefs among College Students

The effects of 157 university students' gender, attitudes toward women (Spence, Helmreich, & Stapp, 1973), and just-world beliefs (Lerner, 1980) on their perceptions and attributions regarding the perpetrator and victim of an instance of wife abuse were examined. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed two patterns of results, each differentially associated with participants' gender. Consistent with Heider's (1958) balance theory, males blamed and derogated the wife/victim more as their attitudes toward women became less favorable. Among females, in contrast, those with positive attitudes toward women blamed, but did not derogate, the wife/victim more as their just-world beliefs became stronger. The latter finding is interpreted in view of research which suggests that women may blame a victim of violence toward women in an effort to gain perceived control over the possibility of their own potential victimization. The implications of these findings for understanding and changing people's perceptions of the victims of wife abuse are discussed.

The Protestant Ethic Among Taiwanese College Students

ABSTRACT In an attempt to provide a cross-cultural examination and documentation of the Protestant ethic in an Eastern society, the Mirels-Garrett (1971) scale was administered along with several sociodemographic and attitudinal measures to 700 students in a major university in Taiwan. Results showed that Taiwanese students scored much lower on the Protestant ethic scale than did American students. Among the sociodemographic variables examined, only community origin, standing in school class, and type of parenting were found to be significant. Among the attitudinal measures, authoritarianism and alienation showed a modest correlation with the Protestant ethic, and just-world belief failed to show any correlation. For Taiwanese students, scores on the Protestant ethic scale were not related to age, sex, rural or urban background, socioeconomic status, family power structure, or religious belief or affiliation. The lack of significance of religious variables for the Protestant Ethic scale is interpreted as ...

Ability, Home Environment, and Belief in a Just World as Determinants of Allocation of Rewards

150 subjects were given information about the aptitude and home environment of four hypothetical students they were going to grade. Aptitude was described as being either low or high; home environment was described as being either detrimental or conducive to academic performance. Subjects' beliefs in a just world were also measured on Rubin and Peplau's Just World Scale (1973). With examination performance held constant, low ability and detrimental home environment were related to higher grades. Further, the association between high grades and detrimental home environment was stronger among subjects with high level of belief in a just world than among subjects with low level of belief in a just world. The association between high grades and low ability was not affected, however, by level of belief in a just world. It was suggested that subjects who strongly believed in a just world considered students from “detrimental” home environment, but not students with low ability, as deserving high grades.