Supporting the Belief in a Just World - Coursework Example

Supporting the Belief in a Just World with Credible Studies

Emely Granado

Florida International University

Supporting the Belief in a Just World with Credible Studies

It is widely believed that subjects of misfortune deserve their punishment, in what is known as the Just World Hypothesis. The hypothesis states that people firmly believe that the world is predictable, orderly, and just. The belief plays a pivotal function in people's lives since they need to assume that actions have predictable repercussions when planning their lives (Bal &, Bos, 2015). Whenever there is evidence that contradicts the perception that the world is unjust, people quickly act to justify their actions or persuade the victim that injustice has not occurred (Nudelman, Otto, & Dalbert, 2016). It is wrong for that people justify rape cases and punish all manner of evil without unearthing the underlying causes. In other words, the media, events, books, and court rulings shape worldviews. If belief in a just world had no adverse social implications and undermined commitment to justice, social scientists, and ethicists would not have bothered much about it. To offer profound insights into the topic, different authors give their views regarding the subject:

Garland, Policastro, Richards, and Miller (2017) carried out a research in which they studied adolescent attitudes concerning bullying. They looked at the experimental, demographic, and behavioral factors likely to explain why college students use blame to justify bullying victims. According to their study, Garland et al. (2017) indicated that most college students cite pro-social attitudes as influencing bullying. Minimizing attitudes and victim blaming were most prominent among men, heterosexuals, and people predisposed to bullying during elementary and high schools (Garland et al., 2017). While individuals who report higher frequencies of drug use tend to support victim blaming, those who frequently engage in alcohol consumption significantly minimize bullying. Myers, Laurent, and Hodges (2014) explored the influence of motivation and emotion on different motives for helping. According to the authors, two reasons for supporting are the empathic concern and self-other overlap (Myers et al., 2014). When people imagine themselves as the ones affected, they are more likely to help others than when they imagine it is the other person being affected. Hence, empathy plays an integral role when one does not want other people to go through the same harrowing experiences as they did (Bal & Bos, 2015). Therefore, how people treat or judge others is a product of various emotional and motivational factors.

A recent study by Stel, Bos, and Bal (2012) established that innocent victims of crime often receive the blame for what befell them. The authors suggest that victim blaming can considerably be reduced when individuals imitate the victim's behavior or even one who is not related to the crime. In other words, when people understand how the victim feels or assume their situations, they learn not to blame others. Instead, they begin identifying with their conditions and circumstances (Stel et al., 2012). Without intending it, people always find themselves victims of physical or sexual abuse. In most cases, they become embarrassed and blame themselves for their predicament. Both children and adults self-blame and find that others blame them also in the future so that it is a recurring phenomenon. Whereas victim-blaming starts with the perpetrator, psychologists believe victim blaming is a cultural spectacle that could have a devastating effect on an individual who is currently struggling to recover from trauma (Nudelma et al., 2016). To prevent the prevalence of self-blame, it is important that people remain self-conscious of their emotions and realize that some events in life are beyond their control. Therefore, all they have to do is cope with past mistakes and avoid resenting over circumstances that are beyond their control.

People firmly believing in a just world are reassured that they will not be victims of unforeseeable tragedies. Such people falsely think they are happy or that their careers are safe. In a way, belief in a just world (BJW) helps to protect their moods even when faced with job-related threats (Nudelman et al., 2016). Overall, BJW is fundamental to self-confidence and safeguards a person's career prospects. Consequently, it is a valuable personal resource tool, protecting from risk and enhances confidence when people face uncertainties.

Study One

Based on previous research on belief in a just world, the purpose of this study was to examine whether just world bias will lead participants to perceive unjust behavior as a just world phenomenon. The following hypotheses are addressed: We predict that participants in our rejection condition (who write about a time they rejected another person) will not engage in the just world bias to the same extent as those in the accepted or deserved conditions (where they write about a time they either accepted or thought someone got what they deserved). That is, participants in the accepted and deserved conditions will agree that a bullying victim’s personality, character, and behavior led to her bullying while participants in the rejection condition will disagree that her personality, character, and behavior led to her bullying.

Methods

Participants

The study involved 126 participants randomly selected from a study in Florida international University. Of these participants, 50.0% (N = 63) were male and 50.0% (N = 63) were female. Ages ranged from a minimum of 17 to a maximum of 59, with an average age of M = 25.50 years (SD = 9.14). Our sample population consisted of 31.1% of Caucasian (N = 39), 57% Hispanic (N = 57), 1.6% Native Indian (N = 2), 11.9% African American (N = 15), 4.0% Asian American (N = 4), and 6.3% (N = 6) from a mixed race. Of these, 81.7% (103) spoke English and 17.5% (22) spoke Spanish. When asked if they are students of the university, 89.7% (113) responded with ‘Yes’ while 10.3% (13) responded with ‘No’.

Materials and Procedure

Materials utilized for the present study consisted of two-page (hard copy) questionnaires and pencils. Each questionnaire had three parts: Part one was made up of 6 questions on IV condition, gender, age, race, whether or not the subject spoke English and whether or not the participant was from The Florida International University. Part two had two questions about the subjects’ thought of the decision; whether they felt good or bad. Part Three included seventeen questions about the subject matter.

There were two phases in this study. The first phase was when the researchers approached different individuals with whom they had no relations at different times and obtained their oral consent to participate in a research study. Whilst observing the uniform guidelines for informed consent, prospective subjects were educated on the potential risks and benefits of participating in the study before being given the research material. If the subject verbally agreed to participate, the researcher proceeded to the next phase. In phase two, participants were presented with the questionnaires.

In the first part of the study, participants were asked to adhere to the instructions at the top of the page. As soon as they finished reading the instructions, they were reminded that their responses was timed. A one-minute warning was given before time was up. The second and third parts of the study had open-ended questions, which were filled by the participants as they deemed fit.

In Part two, participants completed all the questions about the task. The questions asked for demographic information and were mostly scaled nominal variables. The first question on IV condition had a scale of 1-3 (1=Rejected 2=Accepted 3=Deserved), Gender had 1=Male and 2=Female, Age is continuous thus one had to write their age in the blank space, Race had a scale of 1-6, (1=Caucasian 2=Hispanic 3=Native Indian 4= African American 5= Asian American 6= mixed race). The question on English had 1= English and 2= Spanish and the question on whether or not the participant was from The Florida International University had only 1 and 2. Participants were told that they were free to leave blank any questions they did not wish to answer in this part.

After the experiment, the researchers scored each survey by correctly characterizing the answers given in the field. They then selected randomly, a sample of 126 that would then be used for analysis. The responses given in the first part of the study were used as the independent variables as they are unchanged with the rest of the responses being used as dependent variables.

Results

In terms of the descriptive data for the dependent variables in the main analysis were responses given in the first part of the study.

Chi-square test was used to check the impact of the demographic responses on the decisions made by the participants. The demographic responses were the independent variables tested at a 0.05 level of significance. There were significant effects found between, IV condition and what the participants thought of the situation (feel good and feel bad), the person that Anna is, if Anna’s character is to blame, the behavior of Anna in her situation, if Anna is responsible, if people get what they deserve, if people try to be fair, if justice always prevails and the manipulation check. The IV condition determined the correct identification of participants in these groups as the interactions had a p-value of less than 0.05. There were significant effects found also between, age and what the participants thought of the situation (feel good and feel bad), if Anna’s character is to blame, if the behavior of Anna in her situation is to blame, if they would tease Anna, support Roger and whether the rule was unjust or fair. The age determined the correct identification of participants in these groups as the interactions had a p-value of less than 0.05. There were significant effects found between race and what the participants thought of the situation (feel bad) and if people get what they deserve. The race determined the correct identification of participants in these groups as the interactions had a p-value of less than 0.05.

There were significant effects found between language spoken and what the participants thought of the situation (feel good), the behavior of Anna in her situation, if Anna’s behavior is to blame, if people get what they deserve, if people try to be fair, if justice always prevails, the world is just a place and whether the rule was just. The language spoken determined the correct identification of participants in these groups as the interactions had a p-value of less than 0.05. There were significant effects found between the student being from FIU and what the participants thought of whether justice always prevails. Being a student in FIU determined the correct identification of participants in this group as the interaction had a p-value of less than 0.05. Multivariate ANOVA was used to analyze the effect of the independent variables on the responses of the participants.

Discussion

Besides considering character responsibility and behavioral blame as the main variables that influence perceptions whether the world is a just place, the inquiry could also integrate the insights of credible sources in fostering an understanding of the phenomenon. In this respect, the “credibility of the source” is another variable that needs incorporation in the study to facilitate a comprehensive coverage of the study investigating the degree to which character responsibility, as well as personal behavior, influences the perceptions of people regarding the just nature of the world.

Study Two

Undoubtedly, many researchers have conducted inquiries through the acceptable scientific approaches to investigate the attitudes of different people on the justness of a civilized society. The scientific approaches incorporated in research usually observe the essence of validity and reliability to foster the relevance of the results. Besides observing validity and validity, researchers in the multiple and different disciplines uphold other principles of scientific inquiry such as objectivity and ethical research to foster credibility.

The credibility of the source used in a particular study persuades the audience to understand the message delivered in different ways. In a longitudinal study that spanned over five decades, Pornpitakpan (2004) sought to assess the degree to which the credibility of the message delivered has on persuasion. The author notes that the superiority or inferiority of the persuasion depends on the level of source credibility. In this respect, information that has superiority in persuasiveness comes from highly credible sources (Pornpitakpan, 2004). On the other hand, sources of information with inferior persuasion potential come from less credible sources. The author also notes that the interaction aspect of studies influences the credibility of the sources. Particularly, the factors contributing to the credibility of the through interaction include the source, the message, the channel used, and the receiver of the information and the variables in the destination (Pornpitakpan, 2004). In this respect, the level of persuasion regarding the just nature of the world could also consider the credibility of the source as a reasonable variable.

Similarly, in a recent inquiry, Kumkale, Albarracín, and Seignourel (2010) investigate the influence of source credibility on persuading the audience. The scholars underline that the presence or absence of attitudes in the audience does not influence the credibility of a source that seeks to pursue them to understand or believe a particular phenomenon. Kumkale et al. (2010) also point out that the motivation of the information also influences the extent to which it persuades the audience to develop certain beliefs or understandings. Mainly, knowledge, relevance, and message repetition contributes to the motivation aspect of the information delivered through a particular source. In this respect, there is need for an interaction between source credibility and source interaction for the realization of information persuasiveness regardless of the attitudes of the audience. Therefore, regardless of the audience’s prior attitudes, it is important to note that the persuasiveness of information regarding a particular concept relies on its credibility as well as motivation.

The credibility of the source also affects an individual’s attitude certainty and the decisions they make. In this concern, Nan (2009) sought to uncover the influence of source credibility on the audiences’ attitude certainty. Importantly, the sources with a given level of credibility have the potential of affecting a person’s subjective confidence and thus, influence their attitudes. Nan (2009) underlines those sources with a significant level of credibility trigger greater attitude certainty. The resultant certainty attitude from the credible source plays a central part in the cognition of an individual regarding a particular issue of interest. Therefore, the credibility of a source has the possibility of developing either negative or positive attitude thereby affecting the reasoning and decision-making processes. Therefore, it is important to use credible sources in a study to gain a better understanding of the extent to which the message delivered influences the attitudes and decisions of individuals in different contexts. An array of credible sources address the perceptions of people regarding the justness of a civil society provide relevant information that could realize integration in the prevailing inquiry. In this respect, reviewing literature in the areas of ethical decision-making, bullying, violence, and illness among other issues is relevant towards fostering an understanding of the views of different people on the justness of the society.

The need for upholding ethics in the society goes a long way in making the world a better place. Importantly, Crossan, Mazutis, and Seijts (2013) underline that the need for developing an upright virtue is important in fostering ethical decision-making (EDM). The scholars identify the integration of values, virtue, and character strengths as well as EDM as the important aspects that underline character responsibility. The source underscores the need for organizations to make the world a better place by developing the character strengths of the staff. Through the development of character strengths, individuals uphold the essence of engaging in ethical decision-making processes (Crossan et al., 2013). In the civilized societies, the development of character responsibility in the organizational settings influences the extent to which the world is a just place. Therefore, fostering character responsibility through the virtue-based focus of EDM is critical in promoting fairness in the contemporary societies.

Furthermore, the development of individual characteristics from a young age influences violence in the civilized communities thereby influencing the just nature of the world. Salzinger, Feldman, Rosario, and Ng‐Mak (2011) underline that the parent, as well as peers, plays crucial roles in influencing the individual characteristics of children and their behavioral outcomes in the facade of violence experienced in civilized communities. The validity and reliability of the source are cemented by the incorporation of variables that include individual characteristics, peer relationships, and the child’s parent in assessing the prevalence of community violence (Salzinger et al., 2011). The authors hold that parents and peers have the potential of .influencing character responsibility among children and adolescents. In adverse situations, the development of poor characters leads to behavioral outcomes such as community violence. Adolescents committing various acts of violence in the inner-city settings denote the degree to which socialization delivered by parents and peers affects the individual characteristics of young people and the prevalence of violence. Evidently, the source incorporates both character responsibility as well as behavioral blame in facilitating an understanding of the perception regarding the world as a just place.

The existence of bullying in the life course creates a bad perception of the world as a just place. Amid its prevalence in the school setting, bullying is also experienced in the workplace and residential environments among other places. Knauer (2012) underlines that bullying is considered unacceptable and in some cases, criminal. The illegality of bullying in different societies uncovers its categorization as an injustice that has legal consequences. In the past two decades, bullying was a regarded as a form of “teasing” or “horseplay” and thus, unacceptable. However, the contemporary societies consider the act of bullying as discriminative since it undermines the realization of fairness regardless of one’s age, gender, or ethnicity. Currently, judges, as well as policymakers, put emphasis on the need for responsibility and liability for rethinking the acceptability and unacceptability of the bullying behavior (Knauer, 2012). The author points out that policy makers and legislators perceive the world as just place if the bullying behavior is considered unacceptable since every individual has the responsibility of developing a character of responsibility and liability for their behaviors. The source points the unacceptability of bullying and encouraging the essence of upholding character responsibility and abandoning the behavioral blame perception as key ways of promoting fairness in the course of one’s life.

In a similar study, Boulton (2013) sought to investigate the extent to which bullying experiences create social anxiety among adults. The study reveals that bullying has long-term effects after victimization during childhood. Boulton (2013) notes that teasing experiences in the form of bullying creates emotional imbalances that manifest in the long run as the individuals becomes anxious in social contexts. The social anxiety has the potential of triggering self-blame thereby, exposing the individual to the risk of developing further emotional disequilibrium. The self-blame aspect is an outcome of poor coping mechanisms after experiences of bullying victimization. The psychological disorder influences the adult to develop a feeling that social gatherings as unsafe owing the teasing injustices experienced during childhood. Mainly, the self-blame outcome manifests in social environments comprising of sex differences (Boulton, 2013).In this respect, the self-blame outcome of bullying victimization is a depiction of behavioral blame in perceiving the world as a just place.

The prevalence of illnesses is also a factor that influences the perceptions of people’s perceptions regarding justice in the civilized societies. In this view, Angermeyer, Holzinger, Carta, and Schomerus (2011) delved into a study to investigate the degree to which biogenetic causal aspects of mental disorders influence the tolerant attitudes of individuals in the general public. Furthermore, the inquiry also assessed the guilt and responsibility perceptions directed to an individual suffering from a mental illness. Angermeyer et al. (2011) uncover that the attributes of the biogenetic triggers of mental disorders such as schizophrenia contributed to the development of strong ejection from the public. Consequently, the stigmatization of mentally ill individuals develops because some people perceive the individuals as responsible for their illness. Stereotyping mentally sick individuals with self-responsibility are one of the key factors contributing to the perception of rejection thereby denoting the social injustices directed towards such groups in the society. The source denotes the character responsibility and behavioral blame dimensions used by the public in stereotyping ill people in various contemporary environments. The unpredictability and dangerousness of the stereotypes directed towards sick people denote the perceptions of justice in the world.

Schomerus, Matschinger, and Angermeyer (2014) also investigated the nexus between the biological causes of mental illnesses and social acceptance. Mainly, the authors unearthed that biogenetic beliefs contributed to the social exclusion of individuals suffering from depression and schizophrenia. Notably, some observers consider people with depression and schizophrenia as different and dangerous and thus, promote their social exclusion. Conversely, people suffering alcohol dependence experience greater social acceptance compared to those affected by schizophrenia and depression after the public gains knowledge of the biological causes of the health issue. The unequal social treatment of people with different mental disorders denotes the social injustices owing to the biogenic beliefs associated with different illnesses. Further, Schomerus et al. (2014) note that schizophrenia patients developing the disorder due to stressful experiences in their life gained greater social acceptance revealing, the influence of character responsibility in viewing the world as a just place. However, the public’s understanding of the psychosocial causes of mental illnesses such as adverse childhood experiences influenced lower social acceptance, thereby uncovering the behavioral blame approach of perceiving the justness a civilized society.

Weiner, Osborne, and Rudolph (2011) undertook a study to analyze the association between the perception of poverty and fairness in the society. Notably, the authors point out that cultural beliefs of people towards the causes of poverty facilitate the development of different understandings of just in a civilized society. Particularly, Weiner et al. (2011) note that the cultural beliefs of poverty usually identify the ineffectiveness of political institutions as the major cause of poverty in the world. Therefore, many people see poverty as an outcome of unfair distribution of resources by the political organs established in the civilized societies. Furthermore, the cultural beliefs of poverty trigger the development of emotions and behaviors that affect the perceptions of individuals regarding the prevalence of socio-economic and political inequalities.

The buildup of emotions regarding the prevalence of poverty uncovers the role of character responsibility on perceiving the justness of the world. Importantly, the individual has the capability of developing a character that supports emotional stability and thus, influence their reasoning on different phenomena (Weiner et al., 2011). The authors underline that offering the poor people aid is a moral issue that requires the individual to develop a character of giving to such underprivileged cohorts in the society. Nonetheless, the moral evaluations of poverty usually focus on the receiver of aid or empowerment seeking to alleviate them from poverty. For this reason, some people view the world as an unjust place since the party offering assistance to the impoverished people is not acknowledged. In this case, the concept of behavioral blame manifests.

Moreover, Weiner et al. (2011) insist that people develop the perception that every person is responsible for their plight. The notion triggers anger and neglect thereby, further undermining the fair treatment of people living in impoverished conditions. In this light, the personal behavior of the poor person accounts for the establishment of ether positive or negative attitudes towards the poor. On the other hand, in the event the poor person is experiencing plight, not as the outcome of their behavior, the concerned parties increase their willingness to empower the poor (Weiner et al., 2011). The situations reveal the multidimensional aspects of addressing the issue of poverty in the world. Since poverty is usually a revelation of the existence of social and economic inequalities, the causes leading to poverty influence people’s understanding of the justness of a civilized society.

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In most cases, they become embarrassed and blame themselves for their predicament. Both children and adults self-blame and find that others blame them also in the future so that it is a recurring phenomenon. Whereas victim-blaming starts with the perpetrator, psychologists believe victim blaming is a cultural spectacle that could have a devastating effect on an individual who is currently struggling to recover from trauma (Nudelma et al., 2016). To prevent the prevalence of self-blame, it is important that people remain self-conscious of their emotions and realize that some events in life are beyond their control. Therefore, all they have to do is cope with past mistakes and avoid resenting over circumstances that are beyond their control.

People firmly believing in a just world are reassured that they will not be victims of unforeseeable tragedies. Such people falsely think they are happy or that their careers are safe. In a way, belief in a just world (BJW) helps to protect their moods even when faced with job-related threats (Nudelman et al., 2016). Overall, BJW is fundamental to self-confidence and safeguards a person's career prospects. Consequently, it is a valuable personal resource tool, protecting from risk and enhances confidence when people face uncertainties.

Study One

Based on previous research on belief in a just world, the purpose of this study was to examine whether just world bias will lead participants to perceive unjust behavior as a just world phenomenon. The following hypotheses are addressed: We predict that participants in our rejection condition (who write about a time they rejected another person) will not engage in the just world bias to the same extent as those in the accepted or deserved conditions (where they write about a time they either accepted or thought someone got what they deserved). That is, participants in the accepted and deserved conditions will agree that a bullying victim’s personality, character, and behavior led to her bullying while participants in the rejection condition will disagree that her personality, character, and behavior led to her bullying.

Methods

Participants

The study involved 126 participants randomly selected from a study in Florida international University. Of these participants, 50.0% (N = 63) were male and 50.0% (N = 63) were female. Ages ranged from a minimum of 17 to a maximum of 59, with an average age of M = 25.50 years (SD = 9.14). Our sample population consisted of 31.1% of Caucasian (N = 39), 57% Hispanic (N = 57), 1.6% Native Indian (N = 2), 11.9% African American (N = 15), 4.0% Asian American (N = 4), and 6.3% (N = 6) from a mixed race. Of these, 81.7% (103) spoke English and 17.5% (22) spoke Spanish. When asked if they are students of the university, 89.7% (113) responded with ‘Yes’ while 10.3% (13) responded with ‘No’.

Materials and Procedure

Materials utilized for the present study consisted of two-page (hard copy) questionnaires and pencils. Each questionnaire had three parts: Part one was made up of 6 questions on IV condition, gender, age, race, whether or not the subject spoke English and whether or not the participant was from The Florida International University. Part two had two questions about the subjects’ thought of the decision; whether they felt good or bad. Part Three included seventeen questions about the subject matter.

There were two phases in this study. The first phase was when the researchers approached different individuals with whom they had no relations at different times and obtained their oral consent to participate in a research study. Whilst observing the uniform guidelines for informed consent, prospective subjects were educated on the potential risks and benefits of participating in the study before being given the research material. If the subject verbally agreed to participate, the researcher proceeded to the next phase. In phase two, participants were presented with the questionnaires. Read More