Personal Belief In A Just World Research Articles

The longitudinal associations between personal belief in ajust world and teacher justice among advantaged and disadvantaged school students.

The Just World Hypothesis states that people need to believe in a just world in which they get what they deserve and deserve what they get. This study examines the longitudinal associations between personal belief in a just world (BJW), the belief that events in one's own life are just and teacher justice in different status groups. It is posited that the more individuals believe in a personal just world, the more they feel they are treated justly by others, and this should be particularly true for students with a low-status background. Longitudinal questionnaire data were obtained from students with German and Turkish/Muslim backgrounds over a period of 3-4 months. The pattern of results revealed that personal BJW was important for the Turkish/Muslim students in evaluating teachers as more just over a given period of time, but not for the German students. That is, the buffering effect of personal BJW was crucial for the disadvantaged students.

The world may not be just for you but you'd better not say it: On the social value of expressing personal belief in a just world

AbstractThe expression of personal belief in a just world (PBJW) has been discussed as a criterion of excellence in social judgments. In four experimental studies we hypothesized and found that targets who express high versus low PBJW are judged as more: (i) deserving of success and (ii) suited to socio‐organizational expectations. The four studies show that suitability to socio‐organizational expectations mediates the relation between PBJW expressed and success deservingness, even after controlling for judgments of likability, status, rationality, optimism, and targets as victims. Studies 2 and 3 show this pattern occurs regardless of target performance appraisal. Study 4 indicates that expressing low PBJW decreases the social value of individuals, but expressing high PBJW does not increase it. We discuss the impact of PBJW expression on people's lives, namely on upward social mobility of members of low‐status groups, and the influence of the negativity bias on judgments caused by PBJW expression.

Propiedades Psicométricas de la Escala de Creencia en un Mundo Justo General y Personal en el Contexto Argentino

The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Personal and General Belief in a Just World (BJW) Scales. Through a confirmatory factor analysis, the internal structure of both scales was examined by testing if they measure the same global construct or if they constitute two different dimensions. The internal consistency of each scale was evaluated with Cronbach's alpha; also, their linear relations with religious orientations were tested. Using convenience sampling, 328 college students from the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina, were enrolled in the study. Their ages ranged from 18 to 40 years ( M = 24.1, SD = 3.88); 36.6% were men and 63.4% were women. Results suggest appropriate psychometric properties for both BJW scales. In addition, it was observed that both scales refer to independent but related constructs. This finding is reinforeced by analyzing the relation between both types of BJW and religious orientations. Therefore, this study provides valid and reliable tools to evaluate the Personal and General BJW in Argentina.

Vjerovanja u (ne)pravedan svijet i centralnost pravde: relacije s osjećajem koherentnosti i generaliziranim očekivanjima u pogledu budućnosti

The aim of this study was to examine the construct validity and utility of the separate measures of the belief in a just world (BJW), the belief in an unjust world (BUW) and the centrality of justice in predicting a sense of coherence, optimism and pessimism. The choice of these particular criteria was based on the assumption that the justice related beliefs are adaptive in the degree to which they provide to an individual a sense of security, personal control, expectancy of positive future outcomes, and thus contribute to the perception of one’s world as an ordered, predictable, meaningful and benevolent place. The study was performed on a group of 70 students at the Faculty of Science and Arts in Zadar. The mentioned constructs were assessed using the General BJW scale (Dalbert et al., 1987), the Personal BJW scale (Dalbert, 1993), the Centrality of Justice scale (Dalbert et al., 1987), the Sense of Coherence scale (Antonovsky, 1987), and adapted versions of Chang’ s scales of optimism and pessimism (Lacković-Grgin et al., 1998). The BUW was assessed using a ten-item scale that was construed for the purpose of this study. All instruments showed satisfactory high internal consistency (alpha coefficients were .74 or higher).

Neki tipovi valjanosti i pouzdanosti dviju skala vjerovanja u pravedan svijet

Almost three decades of research on individual differences in the Belief in a Just World (BJW) provided strong evidence of their relationship with measurements of a number of other constructs such as authoritarianism, religiosity, locus of control, attitudes toward (under)privileged, neuroticism, life satisfaction and other indicators of well-being. This paper presents some psychometric characteristics of the General BJW scale (Dalbert et al., 1987) and the Personal BJW scale (Dalbert, 1993) that were established in their first administration to a group of 206 students at the Faculty of Science and Arts in Zadar. Both scales were found to be reliable, one-factor measures of two relatively separated aspects of the BJW. Consistently with findings at previous studies, the level of endorsement of BJW statements in our study was significantly higher for the Personal than the General BJW scale. The analysis of BJW scales correlations with the ratings of different aspects of life satisfaction, as measured by the Quality of Life scale (Krizmanić and Kolesarić, 1992), supported lite assumption that the BJW (especially in the personal domain) is a significant contributor in explaining the variance of life satisfaction ratings.

Belief in a Just World as a Resource of Victimized Students

In a cross-sectional questionnaire study with N = 2593 German students, aged between 12 and 17 years (M = 14.1, SD = 0.5), we investigated the relation between students’ personal belief in a just world (BJW) and their victimization in bullying situations. According to the just-world theory and research, we expected that the more strongly the students endorsed the personal BJW, the less likely they were to report being victimized by other students. We aimed to extend previous findings that failed to confirm this negative relation by considering students’ personal experience of teacher justice as a possible mediator in this relation, while statistically controlling for sex and school type. We further considered the nested data structure with regard to school classes in our analyses. The results of latent mediation analyses at the individual and group levels showed that the more the students endorsed personal BJW, the more they evaluated their teachers’ behavior toward them personally as being just, and the less likely they were to report that they were bullied. However, the students’ personal experience of teacher justice did not mediate the relation between personal BJW and victimization at the individual or group level when controlled for sex and school type. We discussed the adaptive functions of BJW and implications for future school research and practice.

Russian Adaptations of General and Personal Belief in a Just World Scales: Validation and Psychometric Properties

In a questionnaire study, Russian versions of the General and Personal belief in a just world (BJW) Scales were validated. Results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed that the Personal BJW Scale could be empirically differentiated from the General BJW Scale; however, both scales correlated positively. Good internal consistencies of both scales were demonstrated. Age was positively correlated with personal BJW but not with general BJW. Gender differences were found neither in personal nor in general BJW. Personal BJW was found to be stronger than general BJW. Convergent validity was tested by inspecting correlations of BJW scales with the Basic World Assumptions Scale. Divergent validity was examined by inspecting correlations with Markers for the Big Five Factor Structure Scale and Justice Sensitivity Scales. Both personal and general BJW showed positive connections with all subscales of the Basic World Assumptions Scale (self-worth, benevolence of world, justice, luck, and control). We demonstrated divergent validity of personal BJW regarding intellect, agreeableness, conscientiousness, beneficiary and perpetrator sensitivity, and divergent validity of general BJW regarding intellect, beneficiary, perpetrator, and observer sensitivity. Both BJW dimensions were unrelated to beneficiary and perpetrator sensitivity. In addition, general BJW was not related to observer sensitivity. Results give evidence for satisfactory psychometric properties and validation of the Russian versions of BJW scales.

Brazilian Adolescents’ Just World Beliefs and Its Relationships with School Fairness, Student Conduct, and Legal Authorities

Prior research has demonstrated that adolescence is a sensitive period to develop their belief in a just world (BJW), both general and personal. Research has found significant relationships between BJW, perceptions of school fairness, student conduct, and perceptions of legal authorities. However, no research has combined these constructs in one model to get a broader picture of how adolescents construct their worldview of fairness and how this influences their compliance with authorities. This study analyzed 475 Brazilian adolescents across three schools. A partially mediated and a mediated model were tested to determine if students’ BJW relate directly or indirectly to student conduct and perceptions of legal authorities through school fairness. The partially mediated model best fit the data. Personal BJW predicted students’ perceptions of the school fairness, which predicted student conduct. General BJW and school fairness predicted adolescents’ perceptions of legal authorities. Perceptions of school fairness are influenced by Personal BJW and are predictive of students’ conduct and opinions of legal authorities. By analyzing multiple constructs simultaneously, this study provides a picture of how these overlapping conceptualizations of justice interact. Students who do not believe their school is fair are less likely to respect and abide by the rules and are more likely to also expect unfair treatment from law enforcement and judicial officials. This study points to the importance of students’ perceptions of justice at school and highlights the far-reaching implications of students who do not perceive or expect justice in their lives.

The relation between students’ justice experiences and their school refusal behavior

In a cross-sectional questionnaire study with N = 1658 German students, aged between 12 and 17 years (M = 14.1, SD = 0.5), we investigated the relation of students’ personal belief in a just world (BJW) to their school absenteeism and functions of school refusal behavior. In accordance with recent studies which identified negative relations between students’ BJW and different forms of rule-breaking behavior (e.g., bullying, cheating), we expected that students with a strong BJW would be less likely to refuse school than those with a weak BJW. Furthermore, we considered students’ personal experience of teacher justice and their feelings of exclusion from school as possible mediators in this relation. We also controlled for confounding effects of gender, age, social desirability, school reluctance, and test anxiety. To test our hypotheses, we used bootstrap mediation analyses. As expected, these analyses showed that the more students endorsed personal BJW, the less likely they were to report that they refused school. The students’ personal experience of teachers justice and especially their feelings of exclusion from school at least partly mediated personal BJW’s relation to school refusal behavior and its functions. The observed relations mainly persisted when we controlled for gender, age, social desirability, school reluctance, and test anxiety. We discussed the adaptive functions of BJW and implications for future school research and practice.

Justice Perceptions and Demographics of Privilege Among Brazilian Adolescents.

Drawing from just world theory and system justification theory, this study explores how privileged status influences perceptions of justice. Data from 475 Brazilian adolescents across three schools shed light on how adolescents' social demographics (ethnicity, education, and income) influence their perceptions of fairness. Adolescents from higher income or educational privilege backgrounds had higher personal belief in a just world (BJW), and better perceptions of legal authorities, but lower general BJW. The opposite was true for less privileged adolescents, indicating that those from lower income homes are less likely to differentiate between personal and general BJW. Contrary to the hypothesis, ethnicity was not a significant variable, but the results were in the expected direction. This research is discussed under the framework of system justification theory and just world theory and provides insight into how the theories complement each other in socially unequal contexts.

Being a good or a just teacher: Which experiences of teachers' behavior can be more predictive of school bullying?

In two cross-sectional questionnaire studies with N = 2,931 German students, aged between 12 and 17 years (M = 14.1, SD = 0.5), we investigated the relation between students' bullying behavior and their personal belief in a just world (BJW). We considered students' personal experience of teacher justice as a possible mediator in this relation and investigated whether the students' experiences of their teachers' classroom management explained bullying behavior in addition to personal BJW and teacher justice, while statistically controlling for sex and school type. In both studies, multilevel modeling results showed that the more students endorsed personal BJW and the more they evaluated their teachers' behavior toward them personally as being just, the less likely they were to report that they bullied others. The students' personal experience of teacher justice mediated the association of personal BJW with bullying. Furthermore, the students' personal experience of classroom management significantly predicted bullying in addition to personal BJW and teacher justice. The observed relations were mainly significant at the individual level. The pattern of results persisted when we controlled for school type and when we considered student sex as a moderator. We discussed the adaptive functions of BJW and implications for future school research and practice.

Justice experiences and feelings of exclusion

To explain feelings of social exclusion, sociological factors, such as occupation, income and education, come to mind. Feelings of social exclusion, however, may be the result of psychological processes and in particular of (in)justice experiences. Based on just-world research, we hypothesized that (1) the more young people feel treated justly by parents, peers, and teachers and (2) the stronger their personal belief in a just world (BJW), the less they should feel socially excluded, and (3) their justice experiences mediate the effect of the personal BJW. In this article, we analyze the data from two late-adolescent samples to test these hypotheses (Study 1: N = 142 students from two academic-track secondary schools; Study 2: N = 154 students aiming for vocational or intermediate degrees). Hierarchical regression analyses consistently revealed that (a) psychological factors significantly explained feelings of social exclusion, whereas sociological factors did so only marginally, and (b) justice experiences significantly explained feelings of exclusion and (c) fully mediated the effect of the personal BJW. Results further suggest that the feelings of exclusion can be meaningfully categorized according to the context (e.g., society in general vs. school) and that context-related feelings of exclusion can be explained by different justice experiences.

Teacher and learners’ belief in a just world and perspectives of discipline of Grade 4 - 8 learners in South African schools

In the present study, we examine the personal belief in a just world (PBJW) for teachers and learners in predominantly Afrikaans-speaking South African schools, and the relationship between teachers’ PBJW and their perception of problem behaviour in the classroom. The study is informed by national debates of school violence in South African schools, and international debates on zero-tolerance policies to address school violence. Our findings suggest that teachers’ PBJW predicts their perception of problem behaviour in classroom behaviour in four areas, namely challenging authority, disrespecting rules and authority and teacher negativity. Teachers with a strong PBJW were more likely to view classroom behaviours as problematic. Children generally reported that their teachers were fair and just and liked them. However, boys were more likely to have experienced trouble with their teachers and to view them as unfair and unjust. We discuss the significance of the findings in terms of school violence and also mention gendered interpretations to school violence.

Educational privilege: The role of school context in the development just world beliefs among Brazilian adolescents.

The purpose of this study is to understand the development of Brazilian adolescents' justice perceptions across different contexts of educational privilege. Past research has found that, in adolescence, the belief in a just world (BJW) differentiates between personal and general and declines. However, prior research has not included adolescents from various socioeconomic statuses, samples in Latin America, or focused on the role of the educational context on the developmental trajectory. Participants were 385 adolescents from 3 schools (private, public and military) in Southern Brazil between 9th and 11th grade. Students completed the personal and general BJW survey. Results revealed a significant interaction of school and grade level of adolescents' personal BJW. Contrary to previous research, personal and general BJW was not always lower in higher grades. Among privileged educational contexts, data indicated that personal BJW may even increase, with the decrease notable in the lower resourced school. In contrast, general BJW was relatively consistent across all Brazilian adolescents. Results provide important insight into the role that privilege and education play across adolescents' development of BJW. This research questions the generalizability of previous studies on the development of BJW and indicates that the trajectory may be dependent upon educational and cultural context.

Personal Belief in a Just World and Self – Compassion as Predictors of Body Appreciation in Individuals with Amputation Using and not Using Prosthesis

Objectives: To investigate the relationship of personal belief in just world self – compassion with body appreciation in individuals with amputation who use prosthesis and in those who do not use prosthesis.Methods: A sample of 78 individuals using prosthesis and not using prosthesis (n = 39 each) was selected. Cross – sectional research design was used. Urdu translated version of Personal Belief in Just World Scale (PBJW), Self – Compassion Scale and Body Appreciation Scale were used. Moderated regression analysis was used to assess if personal belief in just world and self – compassion predict body appreciation similarly or differently in the two groups using SPSS 20.Results: Among individuals with amputation using prosthesis were 30 (76.9%) men and 9(23.1%) women while among 39 individuals not using prosthesis were 30 (76.9%) men and 9 (23.1%) women. Age of individuals with amputation using and not using prosthesis was, M = 37.10, SD = 14.30 and M = 39.13, SD = 14.14 respectively. Duration of amputation of those using and not using prosthesis in years was M = 6.10, SD = 7.74 and M = 8.35, SD = 11.82 respectively. Duration of use of prosthesis in years was M = 3.29, SD = 3.86. Personal belief in just world positively predicted body appreciation in both groups. Self – compassion predicted body appreciation only in individuals with amputation using prosthesis. Individuals using prosthesis had better body appreciation than those not using prosthesis.Conclusion: Use of prosthesis helps in body appreciation of individuals with amputation. Over and above the use of prosthesis, personal belief in a just world is a personal resource that plays its role in maintaining body appreciation. However, Self – compassion aids in body appreciation among individuals with amputation using prosthesis.

Catastrophizing Mediates the Relationship Between the Personal Belief in a Just World and Pain Outcomes Among Chronic Pain Support Group Attendees.

Health-related research suggests the belief in a just world can act as a personal resource that protects against the adverse effects of pain and illness. However, currently, little is known about how this belief, particularly in relation to one’s own life, might influence pain. Consistent with the suggestions of previous research, the present study undertook a secondary data analysis to investigate pain catastrophizing as a mediator of the relationship between the personal just world belief and chronic pain outcomes in a sample of chronic pain support group attendees. Partially supporting the hypotheses, catastrophizing was negatively correlated with the personal just world belief and mediated the relationship between this belief and pain and disability, but not distress. Suggestions for future research and intervention development are made.

Belief in a Just World and Self-Efficacy to Promote Justice in the World Predict Helping Attitudes, but only among Volunteers

AbstractPrevious studies have shown that willingness to help particular victims is predicted separately, or in combination, by the belief in a just world (BJW) and self-efficacy to promote justice in the world (SEJW). Our goal was to extend this knowledge by studying general attitudes towards helping and the association between BJW and SEJW in people that do volunteer service, and by comparing the predictive power of two spheres of BJW, personal BJW and general BJW, on helping attitudes. We measured personal BJW, general BJW, SEJW and helping attitudes in two samples (one comprising university students and the other only volunteers). The results differed in the two samples. For volunteers endorsing strong self-efficacy to promote justice in the world, personal BJW was associated positively with helping attitudes (p = .007). For participants endorsing weak self-efficacy to promote justice in the world, personal BJW was not associated with helping attitudes in either sample. General BJW was not associated with helping attitudes in either sample, either independently or in interaction with self-efficacy to promote justice in the world. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Are victims also judged more positively if they say their lives are just?

Non-victims who express high versus low personal belief in a just world (PBJW) are judged as having more social value, both social utility (i.e., market value) and social desirability (i.e., affective value). Our goal was to test whether this pattern differed when the targets were presented as innocent or non-innocent victims of enduring suffering. A hundred and eighty-six participants of both sexes took part in our 2 (degree of PBJW expressed: high/low) X 3 (Target identity: innocent victim/ non-innocent victim/ non-victim) between-subjects experimental study. Participants rated the targets on four measures: positive/negative social utility/desirability. Targets were judged more positively and less negatively if they expressed high versus low PBJW, regardless of their being non-victims or (non-)innocent victims. This pattern is taken as further evidence that the expression of high PBJW is a judgment norm, that is, a socially valued discourse irrespective of it being true or untrue.

The Meaning of Students’ Personal Belief in a Just World for Positive and Negative Aspects of School-Specific Well-Being

In two cross-sectional questionnaire studies with N = 1792 German and Indian students, aged between 12 and 17 years, we investigated the relation between personal belief in a just world (BJW) and positive as well as negative dimensions of school-specific well-being. Furthermore, we considered students’ personal experience of teacher justice as possible mediator in this relation and controlled for confounding effects of gender, neuroticism, and locus of control. In Study 1, we used multilevel modeling to analyze the German data and to control for class-level effects. In accordance with our hypotheses, Study 1 showed that the more students believed in a personal just world, the better their positive attitudes toward school, their academic self-esteem, and their enjoyment in school were, and the less somatic complaints in school, social problems in school, and worries toward school they experienced. These associations partly differed between classes, but generally persisted when controlled for sex, neuroticism, and locus of control. Finally, the association between personal BJW and well-being was at least partly mediated by students’ personal experience of teacher justice. In Study 2, we focused on the generalizability of the pattern of results across different cultural contexts. However, we did not aim to carry out comparative research. Results from bootstrap mediation analyses were predominantly the same as in Study 1. The adaptive functions of BJW and implications for future school research are discussed.

The legitimation of wife abuse among women: The impact of belief in a just world and gender identification

Past research has found that when victims are ingroup members, observers’ social identification interacts with general belief in a just world (GBJW) to predict judgments about those victims. In this correlational study (N=284 women, ages from 18 to 80) we aimed to test whether and how women’s explicit endorsement of BJW, both personal belief in a just world (PBJW) and GBJW, interacts with their identification as women to predict wife abuse legitimization.We predicted and found that the interaction between PBJW and social identification predicted legitimization of wife abuse. Specifically, for highly identified women, PBJW was positively associated with wife abuse legitimization, for less identified women, PBJW was not associated with wife abuse legitimization. This interaction was significant above and beyond other variables associated with this phenomenon: hostile and benevolent sexism, empathy (cognitive and emotional), and social desirability. On the contrary, the interaction between GBJW and social identification was a nonsignificant predictor of legitimization of wife abuse. These results contribute to reconceptualize the role of PBJW and GBJW on judgments about victims and to highlight the importance of considering the victimization situations in the social context and the social groups in which they actually occur.