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Belief in a Just What? Demystifying Just World Beliefs by Distinguishing Sources of Justice

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  • Katherine Stroebe
  • Tom Postmes
  • Susanne Täuber
  • Alwin Stegeman
  • Melissa-Sue John

Abstract

People’s Belief in a Just World (BJW) plays an important role in coping with misfortune and unfairness. This paper demonstrates that understanding of the BJW concept, and its consequences for behavior, is enhanced if we specify what (or who) the source of justice might be. We introduce a new scale, the 5-Dimensional Belief in a Just Treatment Scale (BJT5), which distinguishes five causal dimensions of BJW (God, Nature, Other People, Self, Chance). We confirm the 5-factor structure of the BJT5. We then address whether the BJW should be considered a uni- and/or multi-dimensional construct and find support for our multi-dimensional approach. Finally, we demonstrate convergent and discriminant validity with respect to important correlates of BJW as well as action in response to important negative life events and societal attitudes. This work illustrates the importance of distinguishing causal dimensions with regard to who distributes justice.

Suggested Citation

  • Katherine Stroebe & Tom Postmes & Susanne Täuber & Alwin Stegeman & Melissa-Sue John, 2015. "Belief in a Just What? Demystifying Just World Beliefs by Distinguishing Sources of Justice," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-30, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0120145
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0120145
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Karl Holzinger & Frances Swineford, 1937. "The Bi-factor method," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 2(1), pages 41-54, March.
    2. Rosseel, Yves, 2012. "lavaan: An R Package for Structural Equation Modeling," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 48(i02).
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    Cited by:

    1. Warren G. Harding & Jasmin Tahmaseb McConatha & V. K. Kumar, 2020. "The Relationship between Just World Beliefs and Life Satisfaction," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-9, September.
    2. Eric R. Igou & Aidan A. Blake & Herbert Bless, 2021. "Just-World Beliefs Increase Helping Intentions via Meaning and Affect," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 2235-2253, June.

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