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Psychology
intermediate

Investment in Long-Term Goals and Commitment to Just Means Drive the Need to Believe in a Just World

Carolyn L. Hafer (2000)

Published
Nov 1, 2000
Journal
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · Vol. 26 · No. 9
DOI
10.1177/01461672002611004
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At a GlanceAI

Long-term goal investment and commitment to just means strengthen belief in a just world and intensify derogation of threatening victims.

SummaryAI

This paper links belief in a just world (BJW) to people’s life strategy: investing in long-term goals and pursuing them through just means. Across three studies, long-term focus (manipulated or measured) and lower delinquency predicted stronger negative reactions toward a victim who threatened BJW, consistent with motivated BJW maintenance. It also reports that greater long-term investment and less reliance on unjust means are associated with stronger BJW, suggesting BJW is tied to how people plan to secure future outcomes.

Method SnapshotAI

Three studies using experimental manipulation and correlational measurement assessed responses to BJW-threatening versus low-threatening victim scenarios.

BackgroundAI

Basic social psychology of belief in a just world, victim evaluation/derogation, and individual differences in goal orientation and delinquency.

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