General belief in a just world is positively associated with dishonest behavior

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General belief in a just world is positively associated with dishonest behavior. / Wenzel, Kristin; Schindler, Simon; Reinhard, Marc André.
In: Frontiers in Psychology, Vol. 8, No. OCT, 1770, 10.10.2017.

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Wenzel K, Schindler S, Reinhard MA. General belief in a just world is positively associated with dishonest behavior. Frontiers in Psychology. 2017 Oct 10;8(OCT):1770. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01770

Bibtex

@article{664170e1e6bd47d58d2382a0c799bd92,
title = "General belief in a just world is positively associated with dishonest behavior",
abstract = "According to the just-world theory, people need to - or rather want to - believe that they live in a just world where they will receive what they earn and consequently earn what they receive. In the present work, we examined the influence of people's general and personal beliefs in a just world (BJW) on their (dis)honest behavior. Given that general BJW was found to be linked to antisocial tendencies, we expected stronger general BJW to be linked to more dishonesty. Given that personal BJW was found to be correlated with trust and justice striving, a negative link with dishonesty could be assumed. In one study (N = 501), we applied a common coin-toss paradigm to assess dishonesty. General BJW significantly predicted the probability of tossing the target outcome, that is, higher general BJW was linked to more dishonest behavior. This effect was found to be independent from personal BJW and self-reported importance of religion. Unexpectedly, there was no significant relationship between personal BJW and levels of dishonesty. These findings imply that although BJW normally serves an adaptive function, at least the facet general BJW has maladaptive side-effects.",
keywords = "Belief in a just world, Cheating, Coin toss, Dishonest behavior, General belief in a just world, Psychology",
author = "Kristin Wenzel and Simon Schindler and Reinhard, {Marc Andr{\'e}}",
year = "2017",
month = oct,
day = "10",
doi = "10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01770",
language = "English",
volume = "8",
journal = "Frontiers in Psychology",
issn = "1664-1078",
publisher = "Frontiers Research Foundation",
number = "OCT",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - General belief in a just world is positively associated with dishonest behavior

AU - Wenzel, Kristin

AU - Schindler, Simon

AU - Reinhard, Marc André

PY - 2017/10/10

Y1 - 2017/10/10

N2 - According to the just-world theory, people need to - or rather want to - believe that they live in a just world where they will receive what they earn and consequently earn what they receive. In the present work, we examined the influence of people's general and personal beliefs in a just world (BJW) on their (dis)honest behavior. Given that general BJW was found to be linked to antisocial tendencies, we expected stronger general BJW to be linked to more dishonesty. Given that personal BJW was found to be correlated with trust and justice striving, a negative link with dishonesty could be assumed. In one study (N = 501), we applied a common coin-toss paradigm to assess dishonesty. General BJW significantly predicted the probability of tossing the target outcome, that is, higher general BJW was linked to more dishonest behavior. This effect was found to be independent from personal BJW and self-reported importance of religion. Unexpectedly, there was no significant relationship between personal BJW and levels of dishonesty. These findings imply that although BJW normally serves an adaptive function, at least the facet general BJW has maladaptive side-effects.

AB - According to the just-world theory, people need to - or rather want to - believe that they live in a just world where they will receive what they earn and consequently earn what they receive. In the present work, we examined the influence of people's general and personal beliefs in a just world (BJW) on their (dis)honest behavior. Given that general BJW was found to be linked to antisocial tendencies, we expected stronger general BJW to be linked to more dishonesty. Given that personal BJW was found to be correlated with trust and justice striving, a negative link with dishonesty could be assumed. In one study (N = 501), we applied a common coin-toss paradigm to assess dishonesty. General BJW significantly predicted the probability of tossing the target outcome, that is, higher general BJW was linked to more dishonest behavior. This effect was found to be independent from personal BJW and self-reported importance of religion. Unexpectedly, there was no significant relationship between personal BJW and levels of dishonesty. These findings imply that although BJW normally serves an adaptive function, at least the facet general BJW has maladaptive side-effects.

KW - Belief in a just world

KW - Cheating

KW - Coin toss

KW - Dishonest behavior

KW - General belief in a just world

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85032187247&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01770

DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01770

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 29066995

AN - SCOPUS:85032187247

VL - 8

JO - Frontiers in Psychology

JF - Frontiers in Psychology

SN - 1664-1078

IS - OCT

M1 - 1770

ER -

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