Effects of Lay Beliefs on the Justice Motive

Abstract

Justice is one of the central values in people’s lives. Being treated fairly and treating each other with respect are important principles for many. Yet, in everyday life people are confronted with injustice and innocent victims on a regular basis. Reactions toward victims can range from going to great lengths to help or support the victims to harsh negative reactions often resulting in blaming victims for what happened to them. This chapter describes how lay theories of justice influence our responses toward victims in particular and social justice in general. We review a range of both negative reactions, such as victim blaming, and positive reactions, such as helping and immanent justice reasoning, and discuss important psychological processes underlying these reactions.