Just World Theory: do we get what we deserve?

Victim-blaming, a bias that drives us to believe in universal justice.

Malvin J. Lerner, father of the Just World Theory, claimed that people, "have a need to believe that they live in a world where everyone, generally, gets what they deserve." (1982).

The belief in a just world manifests itself, in the form of a cognitive bias, in the idea that good things will tend to happen to good people and, conversely, bad things will tend to happen to bad people. This way of seeing the world tends to be held by a large part of the population, even though this is not usually true.

Psychological function of the belief in a just world

On many occasions, good and respectful people do not have the luck in life that they deserve.. In many other cases, those who live by taking advantage of others succeed and their lives go from strength to strength. Faced with these facts, which, when viewed in a cold way, seem unfair, human beings have developed a bias that allows them to assimilate them in a positive way.

Therefore, thinking of the world as a fair place where everyone gets what he or she deserves, as Furnham (2003) states, will serve as a protective factor against the stress caused by the unpleasant events we witness. Lerner argues that this belief allows us to see our environment as a stable and orderly place and that, without it, the motivational process that allows us to set long-term goals would be hindered because it makes us think that we really control our own destiny.

This belief is really difficult to eliminate because of how hard it would be to perceive reality without its protective effect.. Therefore, our cognition uses a certain method to maintain and reinforce this idea.

Victim blaming

The most frequent process is victim blaming in the face of an unfair situation.. For example, it is not uncommon to hear from some people that if someone is poor it is because he has not made enough effort in his life. Nor is there a lack of those who, in the face of rape, argue that the woman should have been accompanied or should wear clothes that are less provocative to the rapists.

These dangerous arguments protect those who have this biased belief, since, thinking that they are not doing anything that could have negative consequences, the perception of vulnerability and the risk of suffering certain situations will be reduced.

Aftereffect

The aftereffect would also reinforce these thoughts.. This effect is a cognitive illusion that makes us think, upon learning the results of an event, that we would have known how to solve it much better than the victim.

A simple example of this is that of the "bar experts" who, having watched the Sunday soccer match, know (better than the coach himself) the tactics that would have led their team to victory.

Confirmatory bias

Another bias that would maintain these prejudices is the confirmatory bias. This refers to the tendency of human beings to look for arguments that support their theories, ignoring those that contradict them.and ignoring those that contradict them.

The control zone

Belief in a just world also helps to protect one's self-esteem and is based on the self-interest bias. When it comes to attributing the reasons for success, an individual will think that these are due to factors that are within his control zone, such as the effort he has made or his own abilities. Conversely, when failure occurs, it is attributed to environmental characteristics such as bad luck. These perceptions, as we have seen, are different when we observe the behavior of other people.

When viewing the situation from the outside, the observer looks more closely at the personality characteristics and actions of the sufferer (Aronson, 2012). In this way the characteristics of the environment that affected that person are ignored for lack of knowledge.. For example, in the case of a homeless person, a narrow focus would ignore that this person has been able to get there due to a sequence of unforeseeable events and not because of his or her own laziness. The economic crisis, an event that no ordinary person could have predicted, may have left this person without a job. This could have led to an accumulation of debts, family tensions, mental illnesses such as a depressive disorder, etc.

What personality factors influence this belief?

Nobody likes to live in an environment of uncertainty and think that, by chance, this could happen to them. For this reason, there are people who resort to these biases in their thinking patterns. For Marvin Lerner the belief that everyone gets what he or she deserves would be a delusion, i.e., self-deception.. It would be a false belief motivated by a desire for security and control (Furnham, 2003).

The main personality trait that would define these ideas is the locus of control, specifically the internal locus of control. People with this locus of control perceive that the consequences of their behaviors are contingent on them, i.e., they assume responsibility for their actions. In contrast, those with an external locus of control tend to attribute what happens in their environment to factors such as luck or chance.

Other personality factors that modulate belief in a just world and moderate it are altruism and empathy. The similarity or not between the subject and the victim also plays a role. This can lead to discriminatory behaviors such as sexism or racism. Other studies have associated these beliefs with conservative and authoritarian ideologies (Furnham, 2003).

How does this belief affect society?

The belief in a just world would not be inherent to the human being, as language can be, but would be acquired as part of the culture in which the individual develops. This can be reflected in an element of society such as religion.

In the traditional Catholic belief, as well as in others, the existence of God, who would be the one in charge of rewarding the good patterns, while punishing those who break his law. while punishing those who break his law. These punishments and rewards would be carried out both during life and after death, thus motivating the individual who follows this doctrine to keep his beliefs stable. Faith in religion and in an omnipresent force could serve as a psychological mechanism for coping with stress.

The influence of the "just world" on shared values.

Belief in a just world, for one reason or another, has effects not only on an individual's outlook on life, self-esteem and prejudices, but can affect societal behaviors at the collective level. A political ideology that is sustained on the basis that each individual has what he or she has deserved will give rise to practices that support these ideas.

Alluding to the French expression laissez fairefor a person with these beliefs, the state should not be in charge of distributing society's resources and correcting inequalities of opportunity caused by the environment, but rather the individual with his or her own effort. Beliefs about the relationship between effort and deserved reward would affect both tax policies, wealth redistribution and the way employees are remunerated by their company (Frank et al., 2015).

The idea of the just world also affects other aspects such as prison policy. If we look only at the actions and consequences of someone who has committed a crime, the practice to follow would be to deprive him or her of life in society for the established period of time. On the other hand, taking into account that there may be environmental circumstances such as poverty, low educational level, family dysfunction, etc. that predispose to the commission of crime, policies could be oriented towards prevention, intervention and readaptation to society of a large number of convicts.

These ideas vary from country to country and are easily maintained over time, making it difficult to change them in either direction. Therefore, a holistic view of a person's situation could help to change attitudes towards that person and facilitate understanding.

Bibliographical references:

• Aronson, E. & Escohotado, A. (2012). El animal social. Madrid: Alianza.
• Frank, D. H., Wertenbroch, K., & Maddux, W. W. (2015). Performance pay or redistribution? Cultural differences in just-world beliefs and preferences for wage inequality. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 130, 160-170.
• Furnham, A. (2003). Belief in a just world: research progress over the past decade. Personality And Individual Differences, 34(5), 795-817.
• Lerner, Melvin J. (1982). The Belief in a Just World: A Fundamental Delusion. New York, NY: Plenum Press.