Abstract
Individuals have a need to believe that they live in a world where people generally get what they deserve. The belief that the world is just enables the individual to confront his physical and social environment as though they were stable and orderly. Without such a belief it would be difficult for the individual to commit himself to the pursuit of long-range goals or even to the socially regulated behavior of day-to-day life. Since the belief that the world is just serves such an important adaptive function for the individual, people are very reluctant to give up this belief, and they can be greatly troubled if they encounter evidence that suggest that the world is not really just or orderly after all” (Lerner & Miller, 1978, pp. 1030–1031).
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Reichle, B., Schneider, A., Montada, L. (1998). How Do Observers of Victimization Preserve Their Belief in a Just World Cognitively or Actionally?. In: Montada, L., Lerner, M.J. (eds) Responses to Victimizations and Belief in a Just World. Critical Issues in Social Justice. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-6418-5_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-6418-5_4
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