The just-world theory.

[OpticalLight]

Just-world phenomenon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The just-world phenomenon, also called the just-world theory, just-world fallacy, just-world effect, or just-world hypothesis, refers to the tendency for people to want to believe that the world is fundamentally just so when they witness an otherwise inexplicable injustice they will rationalize it by searching for things that the victim might have done to deserve it. This deflects their anxiety, and lets them continue to believe the world is a just place, but often at the expense of blaming victims for things that were not, objectively, their fault.

Another theory entails the need to protect one's own sense of invulnerability. This inspires people to believe that rape, for example, only happens to those who deserve or provoke the assault. This is a way of feeling safer. If the potential victim avoids the behaviors of the past victims then they themselves will remain safe and feel less vulnerable.

History

This tendency has been noted cross-culturally since antiquity. For example, in the Book of Job, one of Job's former friends is convinced that he must have done something considerably wrong to have received his bad outcomes.

Scientific studies

Two studies gave women what appeared to be painful electric shocks while working on a difficult memory problem. More women of broadly the same age and social group who observed the experiment appeared to blame the victim for her fate, praised the experiment, and rated her as being less physically attractive than did those who had seen her but not the experiment.

In another study, female and male subjects were told two versions of a story about an interaction between a woman and a man. Both variations were exactly the same, except at the very end the man raped the woman in one and in the other he proposed marriage. In both conditions, both female and male subjects viewed the woman's (identical) actions as inevitably leading to the (very different) results.

The just-world phenomenon was first theorized by Melvin J. Lerner.

In literature

Historically, this concept can be dated back to the theodicy of Leibniz, a theory that was attacked by Voltaire in his novel Candide.

The concept is made use of in Robert Browning's 1855 poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came:

One stiff blind horse, his every bone a-stare,

Stood stupified, however he came there:

Thrust out past service from the devil's stud!

Alive? he might be dead for aught I know,

With that red gaunt and colloped neck a-strain,

And shut eyes underneath the rusty mane;

Seldom went such grotesqueness with such woe;

I never saw a brute I hated so;He must be wicked to deserve such pain.

cuff...link

[Teotzlcoatl]

Interesting, thanks for posting.

[Distracted]

Just like karma allows me to treat other people like shit and know that they did something to deserve it

[OpticalLight]

Well, it is also called the just-world fallacy

IMO it seems like sometimes in the world coincidences occur, sometimes there are synchronicities; and sometimes shit just randomly happens.

[Brew]

Just like karma allows me to treat other people like shit and know that they did something to deserve it

 

Do you remember this when your treated like shit. You moron. hehehehe

[FancyPants]

I believe everthing is balanced out between good and bad. Without one there is no other. Bad shit happens to good people, and good shit happens to bad people. Yin/Yang.

Interesting reference to Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came. I loved the series of books Stephen King wrote based on that poem.

[ThunderIdeal]

i was gonna ask if you read the dark tower FP :D what a trip those books are

[alphaomega]

there are no good or bad things.. only things. and these things are governed by fundamental physical laws. human behaviour is no exeption to these basic physical laws.

[Sheather]

I believe everthing is balanced out between good and bad. Without one there is no other. Bad shit happens to good people, and good shit happens to bad people. Yin/Yang.

 

I used to believe that. Going off alphaomega's post, nice/bad, good and evil are all dependant on the viewer. What is good to you may be evil to me, what is good to me may be evil to you, so how to you judge what shit happens to each person? Is there some universal constant that you can compare everything to? And what of bad people who honestly believe they are doing a good thing?

[alphaomega]

I used to believe that. Going off alphaomega's post, nice/bad, good and evil are all dependant on the viewer. What is good to you may be evil to me, what is good to me may be evil to you, so how to you judge what shit happens to each person? Is there some universal constant that you can compare everything to? And what of bad people who honestly believe they are doing a good thing?

 

you make a good point there sheather; how do you judge what shit happens to each person. also on bad people who believe they are doing something good, IMO, i think it comes down to how they are brought up as a person and what type of values/morals are instilled when they are young. criminals or people society judge as 'bad people' are often just misguided and most of the time suffer from a lack of love or attention. they have a different view of the world and how they fit into it. often because these people have had a rough up-bringing or are missing some key factor in their lives they are very narrow minded which makes it hard for them to change their ways or see that what they are doing is wrong.

Edited November 27, 2010 by alphaomega

[alphaomega]

double post

Edited January 1, 2011 by alphaomega

[alphaomega]

triple post

Edited January 1, 2011 by alphaomega

[FancyPants]

Bad = me concising a non-conciseable subject out of laziness.

[kayesem]

A just-world fallacy indeed.

We are in no position to judge, never have been and never will be, and so we cannot even use terms such as 'deserve' or make any such 'judgement' with true objectivity. (Not confusing judgement with discernment.)

Even forgiveness is ultimately a flawed concept, because it implies some kind of 'wrong' doing on behalf of 'another'.

[Magicdirt]

The just world theory is a convenient way not to give a fuck.

I think we have that mentality imposed upon us from a young age when we are learning what's wrong and what's right and it shapes our psyche to believe the action - consequence connection is always based on just principles.

You don't have to look far to see evidence of injustice these days and it's hard to give a fuck about all of them, if you did you'd turn in on yourself and quickly have no focus on your own life.

I think in some ways it's a self defence mechanism that we use to stay sane in an insane world.

Really though it's just a cop out used by sanctimonious short sighted people with little regard for the facts.

I don't see Karma as some sort of divine retribution like most people, I see it as lessons that need to be learnt in order to evolve or as some would say to raise your vibrational level.

Good Karma to me is a sign of a lesson learned or headed and the benefits would mostly come after death, not rewarded here and now with a new BMW.

Some people are dealt some really shit cards in this game life and they do more with them than others who've been dealt good ones, maybe everyone has it backwards ie many of those living it up and doing well in life could be the ones that have erred in their ways. (I've known a few to come into wealth and become self righteous sanctimonious pricks)

It's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.

[hutch]

Some people are dealt some really shit cards in this game life and they do more with them than others who've been dealt good ones, maybe everyone has it backwards ie many of those living it up and doing well in life could be the ones that have erred in their ways. (I've known a few to come into wealth and become self righteous sanctimonious pricks)

It's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.

 

Nice....I can relate to that in so many ways......

Edited February 5, 2011 by hutch

[woof woof woof]

Jesus said.... ;-) "the first will be the last & the last will be the first"

Buddha said.... ;-) "take the middle road!"

I think the trick is not to create unnecessary karma... iow not to give more swing to the pendulum.

So no matter where you are in this life..... you can always become more balanced - more fine tuned - more peacefull (peace of mind) - more mindfull - etc etc

[Gunter]

justice is just a word

good is just a word

bad is just a word

words are meaningless without contexts

they don't apply in general

just specifically

the world is neither just nor unjust

it is neither good nor bad

how we feel about things is personal and subjective

if i feel something is bad, it does not make it bad

if i feel something is good, it does not make it good

except to me, in context

terms without contexts are a waste of human energy

applying them to the universe is in context, meaningless and useless

[Teljkon]

sfsfs

Edited December 19, 2021 by Teljkon

[kindness]

I love you teljkon thanks.

[Teljkon]

asdad

Edited December 19, 2021 by Teljkon

[OpticalLight]

I think it can be useful to acknowledge that this phenomenon does actually exist in society, at least in some people. It can be particularly useful to know it exists if something misfortunate happens to you personally, and in your recounting said incident to a friend they turn around and say - "oh you were asking for it etc', instead of getting all riled up you can step back and say to yourself, okay that's their belief system. Now I'm not saying that there aren't some circumstances where the person isn't asking for it, but I'm talking about occacions where the victim was minding their own business.