A Functional Perspective on the Justice Judgment Process and Its Consequences

Abstract

A vast body of research points to the importance of justice to people. Justice exists between individuals and groups of individuals and is thus a social phenomenon. Communication constitutes an important part of the social construction of what is considered fair or unfair. It is for this reason that an examination of how and when people talk about justice, and what the consequences of such communications are, is so important. I suggest that justice can be employed by people (e.g., by adopting it in communications) to influence others or to attract others’ attention. I also suggest that self-interest plays a pivotal role in the use of justice in communications because justice can be seen as an objective, higher-order norm that conflicts with self-interest. The studies in Chapter 2 show that people use justice assertions to persuade others, but only when all conditions are present that warrant successful employment of justice assertions (i.e., no apparent self-interest, and able to adjust behavior to a situation). Chapter 3 presents experimental research data that shows that adopting justice assertions in communications renders a message more persuasive when the communication source is not pursuing self-interested goals. Chapter 4 shows that because of the aversive and threatening characteristics, and the social meaningfulness of injustice, unjust information draws and holds attention stronger than just, positive and neutral information and information that is equally negative but less socially meaningful. Finally, Chapter 5 investigates fluctuations in the justice sensitivity personality trait. I show that both fair and unfair experiences, directed toward the self and others, elevate justice sensitivity. These effects may be temporary or evolve into desensitization over repeated exposures, or, potentially, may shed light on the process of how people acquire sensitivity to justice. These chapters thus show that justice assertions and information are functional and are used as such. The current studies aim to contribute to a better understanding of the justice judgment process. Investigating the functionality of justice judgments helps to obtain a complete representation of the manners in which people use and interpret justice judgments and justice-related experiences, and contribute to our understanding of the justice judgment process.