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Psychology
intermediate

Belief in a Just World and Reactions to Another's Lot: A Study of Participants in the National Draft Lottery<sup>1</sup>

Zick Rubin & Anne Peplau (1973)

Published
Oct 1, 1973
Journal
Journal of Social Issues · Vol. 29 · No. 4
DOI
10.1111/j.1540-4560.1973.tb00104.x

At a GlanceAI

Just-world belief reduced sympathy for draft “losers,” shifting reactions toward justifying others’ lottery outcomes.

SummaryAI

This study uses the real stakes of the 1971 U.S. draft lottery to test how belief in a just world shapes responses to others’ fortune or misfortune. While participants overall felt more positively toward those who drew bad lots (high draft priority), this sympathetic pattern disappeared among people high in just-world belief, who evaluated winners at least as favorably and showed more resentment toward losers. The findings support the idea that just-world belief functions as a perceptual bias that encourages rationalizing unequal outcomes, helping sustain social injustice.

Method SnapshotAI

Participants listened to a live draft lottery broadcast and then reported evaluations of winners versus losers, analyzed by individual differences in just-world belief.

BackgroundAI

Basic social psychology of attribution and the belief-in-a-just-world construct (justice motives and reactions to victims).