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Dyk #4: Just-World Fallacy

February 21, 2011

Did You Know, Psychology

Did you know…

That people generally have the tendency to believe that the world is fundamentally “just”?

This is called the “just-world fallacy”.

When people see something injust done to a person that is not explicable, they will rationalize it and say “they must have deserved it”. And this counts for nearly everyone!

This was proven in quite a few studies. For instance, in a study, male and female participants were told two stories about interaction between a man and a woman. Both stories were identical, except that the ending differed. In the one story, the man asked the woman to marry him, but in the other story, the man raped the woman.

Both male and female participants viewed the woman’s identical actions inevitably leading to very different results.

Have you ever caught yourself thinking “s/he must have deserved it” when something injust happened to someone (not necessarily rape!)?

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About Manon Eileen

Dutch 23-year-old SF/F YA writer, BSc in Psychology and soon MA in Global Criminology. She is creative, easily bored, and craves tea all the time. Also: "science isn't about why, it's about why not" - Cave Johnson.

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  • http://cmstewartwrite.wordpress.com/ CMStewart

    The study should be repeated, but with the sexes switched. Also a study with “2 women,” and another study with “2 men.” That would make for an interesting compare and contrast.

    Can’t recall thinking I believed survivors of violence deserved their ordeals, but I don’t doubt that I have. It’s a defense mechanism.

    • Manon Eileen

      I agree, that would definitely be an interesting study! I’ll look into it, see if I can find if such a study has been done.

      Thanks for reading and for your comment, C.M.!

  • http://www.meandersfit.com M.E. Anders

    I have read some stories (not thinking of any in particular at the moment) where I have rooted for something bad to happen to a particular character. I believe that the author crafted the story in order to evoke those emotions from me.

    • Manon Eileen

      Hey M.E. :) Thanks for stopping by.

      I think especially in stories (and movies) they evoke those feelings. Think of the show Dexter, for instance – we all rooting for the serial killer.

      • http://bluelion013.blogspot.com Kunal Garg

        i read Wheel of Time, a fantasy books series. there is a scene in book 6 where the army of male protagonists unleash a wave of death and destruction. thousands of people are killed and i think it was only their leaders who had erred no those warriors themselves.
        my point is, in a war….it gets difficult to form opinions, its never the mistake of the people killed but like in the book, i think all the people who read it including me enjoyed that scene thoroughly!

        • Manon Eileen

          I too read The Wheel of Time, actually, so I know exactly what you’re talking about :) .

          Interesting example, though, I hadn’t related war to the Just-world Fallacy. Thanks for that!

          Thanks for stopping by, Kunal!