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PsychologyMust Read
intermediate

Belief in a Just World

Carolyn L. Hafer & Robbie Sutton (2016)

Published
Jan 1, 2016
Journal
Handbook of Social Justice Theory and Research
DOI
10.1007/978-1-4939-3216-0_8
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At a GlanceAI

A concise handbook overview of belief in a just world theory, its evidence base, and its role in justice-related judgments.

SummaryAI

This handbook chapter synthesizes theory and research on belief in a just world (BJW), a motive-linked tendency to see outcomes as fair and people as getting what they deserve. It organizes key findings on how BJW shapes responses to victims and injustice, including when people derogate victims or rationalize inequality to protect a sense of fairness. By integrating major lines of evidence and debates, it clarifies what BJW explains in social judgment and where its limits and open questions lie. The chapter is useful as a conceptual map for researchers studying justice perceptions, victim blaming, and legitimation of social arrangements.

Method SnapshotAI

Narrative review and theoretical synthesis of prior research on belief in a just world.

BackgroundAI

Basic social psychology of attitudes, attribution, and justice/moral judgment concepts.

In Collections

Psychology41 papers

The Belief in a Just World

In this collection I gather (mostly) psychological studies devoted to people’s fundamental belief that the world is just. This construct, it seems to me, quite strongly affects our perception of the world and, importantly, our reaction to ongoing events — especially when we start blaming others, guided implicitly by precisely this motive. The collection includes both curated works, which at some point I read carefully and can say something sensible about, and new works being published on the topic.

ES
Evgeny Smirnov

An overview chapter in the corresponding book. A good start for those interested in the topic.

— ES