High Belief In A Just World Research Articles

The association between belief in a just world and endorsing conspiracy theories is moderated by ambiguity tolerance, but not scientific reasoning

Both the belief in a just world (BJW) and conspiracy theory (CT) endorsement assist people to make sense of their world when they encounter ambiguous situations. When one endorses BJW as a generalised framework for understanding their world, however, they may be less motivated to endorse more contextualised CTs. The present study tests this theoretical assertion and explores the extent to which ambiguity tolerance—a preference for black-and-white thinking—and scientific reasoning skills might modify the association. Findings indicate that people with low ambiguity tolerance and higher BJW were less likely to endorse CTs. However, when ambiguity tolerance is high, there was no such association. Scientific reasoning did not moderate the association between BJW and CT endorsement. This research provides support for the buffering effect of BJW against the endorsement of conspiracy theories when ambiguity tolerance is low and regardless of people's scientific reasoning abilities. We discuss the benefits of endorsing adaptive worldviews as a protective factor against engaging in more detrimental beliefs.

Dehumanization and Minimization of Informal Caregivers Suffering: The Legitimizing Role of Justice Perceptions.

Informal caregivers, who provide unpaid care work to individuals with disabilities, are devalued despite their important contributions to society. Identifying the factors contributing to their devaluation is crucial for recognizing and valuing their work. In two experimental studies, we examined (a) whether informal caregivers are dehumanized; (b) the moderating impact of belief in a just world (BJW) on this process; and (c) the predictive impact of BJW and the dehumanization of informal caregivers on the perception of informal caregivers' suffering. In Study 1 (N = 180), a 2 (informal caregiver vs. non-caregiver) X 2 (female vs. male) between-participants design was used; in Study 2 (N = 205), there were two experimental conditions: female informal caregiver vs. male informal caregiver. Participants were randomly assigned to one description of a target and were asked to complete measures assessing the dehumanization of the target (Studies 1 and 2), the perception of the suffering of the target (Study 2), and a measure of BJW referring to themselves (Study 2). Results showed the expected dehumanization effect, such that participants attributed fewer uniquely human emotions to informal caregivers compared to non-caregivers, regardless of their gender (Studies 1 and 2). However, this effect was observed only among participants with higher BJW (Study 2). Furthermore, BJW and the dehumanization of informal caregivers predicted the minimization of the perception of informal caregivers' suffering (Study 2). These results establish a theoretical relationship between these research areas and offer insights for practical implications and future research.

Justice perceptions and well-being: Belief in a just world is a personal resource and a coping resource.

Although the perception of justice is a core need of all individuals, the adaptive value of belief in a just world (BJW)-in everyday life and when facing severe distress-has been typically investigated in separate studies. In this article, we tested, in only one study, the possibility that BJW can be a personal resource and a coping resource. We analysed data from the European Social Survey comprised of random representative samples of 27 European countries (N = 24,776 participants). We considered distressing circumstances both at an individual level (health impairment and financial difficulty) and at a macroeconomic contextual level. The results showed that for people both facing and not facing financial or health-related distress, BJW was positively associated with well-being, supporting BJW as a personal resource. Furthermore, we found that the decrease of well-being of people facing distress, both at an individual level and at a contextual level, compared to people not facing distress, was lower for individuals with higher BJW than for individuals with lower BJW, supporting BJW as a coping resource.

Tipping the Scales of Justice: The Influence of Victimization on Belief in a Just World

Previous research has suggested that people have a need to believe in a just world in order to function adaptively, even when negative events occur. However, existing work has not examined how different types of negative events may differentially influence the degree to which people believe the world is just. Drawing data from two waves of a large-scale, nationally representative longitudinal study (Americans’ Changing Lives), we propose that two primary types of injustices—major injustices and threshold injustices—should affect belief in a just world (BJW) differently. Major injustices include traumatic events that are overwhelmingly intense and severe (i.e., experiencing the death of a child); threshold injustices are traumatic events that, while difficult and impactful, are less severe (i.e., being attacked, robbed, or burglarized). We expected that major injustices would be associated with higher BJW, whereas threshold injustices would be associated with lower BJW. Results largely confirmed our hypothesized effects both within the waves of data as well as across waves. Implications for BJW theory and the experience of different types of victimization are discussed.

Long-term focus and prosocial–antisocial tendencies interact to predict belief in just world

According to justice motive theory, individuals need to believe that the world is a just place where people generally get what they deserve (Lerner, 1977). Individuals are thought to need belief in a just world (BJW) in part because it gives them the confidence required to invest in long-term goals. However, BJW can only provide confidence that individuals will reap the rewards of their investments if they invest in their goals through prosocial means (e.g., Hafer, 2000). The current study provides evidence for this argument. Specifically, we examined individual differences in BJW, long-term goal focus, and prosocial–antisocial tendencies to test the hypothesis that higher long-term focus would be associated with higher BJW, but only amongst those who are also high in prosocial (low in antisocial) tendencies. This hypothesis was tested four times using four measures of prosocial–antisocial tendencies. Simple slopes analyses revealed the predicted pattern of results for three of the four measures. Our findings (a) provide novel support for the idea that BJW aids in the prosocial pursuit of long-term goals, and (b) have implications for individual variation in BJW.

When do people derogate or psychologically distance themselves from victims? Belief in a just world and ingroup identification

Two factors increase the threat for individuals’ belief in a just world (BJW) posed by an innocent victim: the degree of the observer’s explicit endorsement of BJW and the fact that the victim shares a common identity with the observer. In this paper, we aim to investigate whether or not these two factors (BJW and ingroup identification) have an interaction effect on each of two mechanisms that reduce the threat to BJW: victim derogation and psychological distancing from the victims. In two studies with university students we predicted and found that BJW interacted with identification with an ingroup victim to predict victim derogation (Study 1) and disidentification from the group shared with the victim (Study 2). In Study 1, the positive relationship between BJW and derogation was significant for strongly identified participants but not for weakly identified participants. In Study 2, high BJW was associated with low ingroup identification only when group salience was activated.

Causal Attributions of Workplace Gender Equality, Just World Belief, and the Self/Other Distinction

We conducted 2 surveys in Istanbul, Turkey, to investigate the moderating effects of belief in a just world (BJW) on the links between perceived gender equality and causal attributions in the workplace with 2 samples of bank employees from varying hierarchical positions (M age = 30). Results from a unidimensional BJW scale (Dalbert & Yamauchi, 1994) used in Study 1 (N = 136) showed a negative relationship between perceived gender equality and internal causal attributions only for high BJW scores. Results from a bidimensional scale measuring BJW for self and for others (Lipkus, Dalbert, & Siegler, 1996) used in Study 2 (N = 168) replicated this pattern for BJW both for self and for others. However, only BJW for others, which was found to be linked to social discrimination indices, moderated the negative relationship between perceived gender equality and external attributions. These findings support the relevance of the bidimensional conception of BJW and the predictions related to causal attribution theory and the just world hypothesis.

Who deserves to be sick? An exploration of the relationships between belief in a just world, illness causal attributions and their fairness judgements

This research explored relationships between beliefs about justice, illness causal attributions and fairness judgements of those causes. Participants (n = 200) completed questionnaires assessing their belief in a just world (BJW) and measuring causal attributions and fairness judgements for 42 illness causes classified into behavioural, environmental and hidden (genetic, mystic, psychosocial) categories. As predicted, BJW was correlated positively with all fairness judgements, but with none of the illness causal attributions. Behavioural causes of illness were judged to be fairer than environmental causes, which were judged fairer than hidden causes. Finally, for environmental and hidden causes (uncontrollable illness attributions), positive correlations between causal attributions and their corresponding fairness judgements were found only among participants with high BJW. Implications of these findings for decision makers and health professionals are discussed, with emphasis on the need to consider the combined effect of causal attributions and BJW on illness fairness judgements.

Predicting the Timing of Coming Out in Gay and Bisexual Men From World Beliefs, Physical Attractiveness, and Childhood Gender Identity/Role1

In a questionnaire study, we examined the age of “coming out” (i.e., acknowledging one's sexual identity) in gay and bisexual men as predicted by belief in a just world (BJW), personal efficacy (PE), physical attractiveness, childhood gender identity/role, and demographics. As hypothesized, men with a higher BJW, greater physical attractiveness, greater degree of same‐sex behavior, and younger age reported an earlier age of coming out. An interaction between BJW and childhood gender identity/role showed, as expected, that the relation with BJW only occurred among men with greater childhood femininity. Unexpectedly, PE was unrelated to age of coming out. Results add to previous studies on the coming‐out process and to work suggesting a buffering effect of BJW in other contexts.

Belief in a Just World and Jury Decisions in a Civil Rape Trial

When people's belief in a just world (BJW) is challenged, it can be restored by attributing blame to the victim or alleviating the victim's suffering. In criminal cases, jurors can attribute responsibility to victims, but cannot alleviate suffering. Participants (n= 106) heard a taped civil rape case. The effect of age of plaintiff, gender of participant, and type of participant on mock jurors' reactions to a plaintiff were examined. Participants evaluated responsibility of plaintiff and awarded monetary damages. It was hypothesized that, given this opportunity to compensate the victim, jurors would be less likely to derogate the victim. As hypothesized, women with high and low BJW attributed the same level of responsibility to the plaintiff but those with a high BJW awarded more monetaly damages. Men with high BJW awarded much less in damages than did men with low BJW. The just‐world theory appears to explain many of the decisions made by mock jurors.

Perceived Patient Responsibility and Belief in a Just World Affect Helping

This experiment integrated information from two areas of research-patient perception and belief in a just world (BJW)-that have heretofore offered relatively separate insights into when people will help others. We provided participants an actual opportunity to help a target medical patient and attempted to demonstrate that volunteering is affected by both characteristics of the patient (perceived responsibility for disease onset) and characteristics of the perceiver (BJW). Participants were significantly more likely to help an individual portrayed as not responsible for disease onset, and helping was most pronounced in participants who held a high BJW. Our findings suggest an interactive model of patient perception and helping behavior in which characteristics of the patient interact with characteristics of the perceiver.

Perceived Patient Responsibility and Belief in a Just World Affect Helping

This experiment integrated information from two areas of research-patient perception and belief in a just world (BJW)-that have heretofore offered relatively separate insights into when people will help others. We provided participants an actual opportunity to help a target medical patient and attempted to demonstrate that volunteering is affected by both characteristics of the patient (perceived responsibility for disease onset) and characteristics of the perceiver (BJW). Participants were significantly more likely to help an individual portrayed as not responsible for disease onset, and helping was most pronounced in participants who held a high BJW. Our findings suggest an interactive model of patient perception and helping behavior in which characteristics of the patient interact with characteristics of the perceiver.

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.