Belief in a just world

How strongly you feel the world is fundamentally fair — that people, including you, tend to get what they deserve.

Belief in a just world — the sense that people generally get what they deserve and deserve what they get — was identified by Melvin Lerner (1980) and is among social psychology's most-studied beliefs (Rubin & Peplau, 1975; Lipkus, 1991). Claudia Dalbert (1999) distinguished two strands: a general belief that the world at large is fair, and a personal belief that your own life is fair. A stronger personal belief tends to go with wellbeing and resilience; a stronger general belief is also linked to more readily assuming that victims brought misfortune on themselves. Neither end is right or wrong — this is a descriptive self-report of a worldview, not a claim about how just the world actually is. Distinct from karma (cosmic moral balance) and locus of control (felt personal agency). (Belief in a Just World scale (Lerner; Dalbert))

Dimensions

• General just-world belief (The world is often unfair – The world is basically fair) — Leaning high means you see the world at large as a fundamentally fair place where, over time, people tend to get what they deserve; leaning low means you see outcomes as often unearned, with luck, privilege and injustice shaping who thrives. This is Dalbert's general belief in a just world.
• Personal just-world belief (Life treats me unfairly – Life treats me fairly) — Leaning high means you feel your own life is basically fair — that your efforts are rewarded and what happens to you is broadly deserved; leaning low means you feel life often treats you unfairly, whatever you do. This is Dalbert's personal belief in a just world, the strand most closely tied to wellbeing.

References

• Lerner, M. J. (1980). The Belief in a Just World: A Fundamental Delusion. Plenum Press, New York
• Rubin, Z., & Peplau, L. A. (1975). Who believes in a just world?. Journal of Social Issues, 31(3), 65–89
• Lipkus, I. (1991). The construction and preliminary validation of a global belief in a just world scale and the exploratory analysis of the multidimensional belief in a just world scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 12(11), 1171–1178
• Dalbert, C. (1999). The world is more just for me than generally: About the Personal Belief in a Just World Scale's validity. Social Justice Research, 12(2), 79–98

Related topics

• Free will vs determinism
• Do you believe in fate?
• Locus of control
• Do you believe in karma?
• Belief in luck

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