Just World Theory

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modern experimental belief in a just world research; it is only the type of innocent victim that has changed (Correia, Vala, & Aguiar, 2007). Belief in just world is the belief that this world has stable rules under which good people receive good things as rewards and bad people receive bad things as punishment. That is, no matter what happens to a person, whether good or bad, he or she deserved it, perhaps because of past good or bad actions that are reflected in present-day consequences.This belief is considered to be a common justice motive of human beings (Montada, 1998). When individuals high in belief in just world are confronted with injustice, they try to compensate or justify it; for example, by blaming themselves or by playing down…show more content…
One of the most important is the belief in a just world hypothesis introduced by Lerner (1965, 1980). Societies are full of inequalities and injustices -- the uneven distribution of wealth and unfairness of access to health care and education to name just a few, Individuals do not react in the same way to observed or experienced injustice. Some feel moral annoyance and seek to restore justice (Montada, Schmitt, & Dalbert, 1986). Others show scornfulness for the victims (Lerner & Miller, 1978) or adopt belief systems that provide the justification for existing social, economic, and political arrangements (Banaji, Jost, Nosek, 2004). It can be stated that, when people deal with injustices that are difficult to redress in reality, individuals may try to re-establish justice cognitively by blaming the victim or justifying the status…show more content…
This shows people have a belief system that the world is a place where wrong will get wrong and good will get good back. What could be expected when these beliefs are challenged? When individuals come across a strong evidence that shows the world is not just and fair after all, they experience a higher level of stress, anxiety, fear, and vulnerability (Janoff-Bulman, 1989; Lerner, 1980).Getting retribution is an effective method for protecting one’s belief that the world is just and for re-establishing moral order (McCullough, Bellah, Kilpatrick, & Johnson, 2001; Lerner, 1980).If the offenders are punished for their behaviour, then perceptions of injustice minimized, because the perpetrators get what they deserve (Walster, Walster, & Berscheid, 1978). So that when individuals belief in a just world become shaken they try to adjust it by whatever means they use which could be revenge. When people see the world an unjust place it arouses an emotional state The emotion most often associated with vindictiveness or revenge is anger, this feeling of anger often leads to vindictive behaviour which does not diminish until it is recognized and released (Fitzgibbons, 1986, McCullough, Kurzban, & Tabak 2010). The higher the level of injustice, the more people need to go into cognitive, affective or behavioural action to protect their just world beliefs. Both the

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