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The Appropriation Process of the Belief in a Just World

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Abstract

Research on the belief in a just world (BJW) has been developing since the mid 60s. However, studies have been mainly developed from an individual differences perspective. As a consequence there are no studies that analyze the cognitive processes implied in the appropriation of the BJW during the socialization processes that occur in infancy and onwards. The main purpose of this paper is therefore to analyze this psychological process from childhood to adolescence. The study was carried out with a convenience sample of children and adolescents (N = 216) from Buenos Aires, between 6 and 17 years old, who participated in an interview guided by the piagetian clinical method. Results indicate that during the appropriation process of the BJW participants reconstruct this belief to make it coherent with hypothetical deductive thinking. This is expressed in three different justifications that the individuals give to justify their BJW: immanent justice, social reciprocity and personal merit. Yet, the appropriation process is incomplete. In the majority of the adolescents a magical thinking remains, constituting a state of cognitive polyphasia expressed in oscillating answers. In conclusion, the BJW is not a previous social condition transmitted from one generation to another. Its appropriation goes beyond the mere reproduction of social beliefs and involves a conceptual reconstruction.

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Notes

  1. Indicates participants’ age in years and months.

  2. The following notations were used in the transcripts: “[]” indicate interviewer’s observations and words, “italics” indicate interviewees’ words; “(…)” indicate omitted fragments.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been possible thanks to the founding of PICT-2008-1217, PICT 2012–1594, UBACYT (2011–2014) 20020100100360 and 20020100100388.

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  1. National Scientific and Technical Research Council, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Alicia Barreiro

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  1. Alicia Barreiro
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Correspondence to Alicia Barreiro.

Appendix A

Appendix A

Narratives Used in the Interviews (Translated from the Spanish Original)

  1. Narrative 1:

    “A boy was misbehaving a lot. He did not listen to his mum and he made fun of his classmates. One day, he went for a walk and when he was crossing a bridge over a brook, the bridge broke and he fell into the water. Why do you think the bridge broke?”

  2. Narrative 2:

    “One afternoon, at the gym, a boy was making fun of a smaller boy because he could not lift much weight, telling him he was good for nothing. Then, the smaller boy went home crying. When the bigger boy was preparing the weights to exercise, one weight fell on his foot and he had to be taken to the hospital in a hurry. Why do you think the boy got hurt?”

  3. Narrative 3:

    “One day, a boy was going to play soccer with his friends. When he arrived at the place where they were going to play, he realized that on the way there he’d lost his watch. They played soccer and one of his friends kicked really hard and the ball got stuck in a tree. Because it was really high nobody wanted to bring it down, and the ball owner got really sad because he was afraid of heights. Then, the boy who had lost the watch decided to help. He climbed the tree and got the ball for him. When he finished playing soccer, on the way home, he found his watch. Why do you think the boy found his watch?”

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Barreiro, A. The Appropriation Process of the Belief in a Just World. Integr. psych. behav. 47, 431–449 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-013-9246-y

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