In a Violent World a Just World Makes Sense: The Case of "Senseless Violence" in The Netherlands

Recent violent incidents in The Netherlands caused nationwide debates about their purported senselessness. Building on Lerner's Just World Theory (Lerner, 1980, The Belief in a Just World. A Fundamental Delusion, Plenum Press, New York), the present experiment sought to delineate the circumstan...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inSocial justice research Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 79 - 94
Main Authors Lodewijkx, Hein F; M, Wildschut, Tim, Nijstad, Bernard A, Savenije, Wim, Smit, Marieke
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Springer Nature B.V 01.03.2001
Subjects
Just world beliefs
Justice
Netherlands
Perceptions
Public Opinion
Victims
Violence
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Recent violent incidents in The Netherlands caused nationwide debates about their purported senselessness. Building on Lerner's Just World Theory (Lerner, 1980, The Belief in a Just World. A Fundamental Delusion, Plenum Press, New York), the present experiment sought to delineate the circumstances under which violence is perceived as senseless by outside observers. Participants were more likely to perceive an act of violence as senseless and to identify with the victim when there was no opportunity to blame the victim and when the victim was uninvolved with the perpetrator. These findings suggest that acts of violence are perceived as senseless when attributional strategies fail to uphold observers' belief in a just world.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0885-7466
1573-6725
DOI:10.1023/A:1012527808620