Sources of justice & cultural worldviews

People?s Belief in a Just World (BJW) plays an important role in coping with misfortune and unfairness. So far research has not considered who or what is the source of this just world (the question of ?justice from whom/what??). We have constructed a scale, the 6-Dimensional Belief in a Just Treatment Scale (BJT6), which distinguishes six causal dimensions of BJW (God, Nature, Other People, Self,Chance, Fate)(Stroebe, Postmes, Täuber, Stegeman, & John, M.S., 2015). In this project I focus on this question and argue that people?s coping with and actions in response to major life events and their emotional well-being is determined by the sources individuals see as being responsible for justice. In different lines of research, I consider how beliefs about the sources of justice affect, among others, responses to major life events (e.g., traumatic life events, man-made earthquakes). In addition, in collaboration with Robbie Sutton, I study how the BJT affect responses to immanent justice.

Researchers and partners

Behavioural and Social Sciences, Psychology

• dr. K.E. (Katherine) Stroebe , Social Psychology

University of Groningen, outside of Behavioural and Socials Sciences

• prof. dr. P.J. (Peter) de Jong, clinical psychology
• dr. B.D. Ostafin,  clinical psychology

Partners outside of the University of Groningen

• Susanne Tauber (University of Groningen, FEB), Melissa-Sue John (Worcester Polytechnic Institute), Robbie Sutton (University of Kent)

Results

Publications

• Stroebe, K., Postmes, T., Täuber, S., Stegeman, A., & John, M. S. (2015). Belief in a Just What? Demystifying Just World Beliefs by Distinguishing Sources of Justice. PloS one, 10(3), e0120145.

University's focus areas

• Sustainable Society