Justice and Altruism

Question 1

What is distributive justice?

Answer 1

Concern with the justness of the outcomes that people receive
e.g. privileges, duties, goods in line with people’s merits or for the best interest of society

Question 2

What is procedural justice?

Answer 2

Concern with the fairness of the processes used to distribute justice
e.g. are the procedures that allocate resources and resolve disputes fair?

Question 3

What is justice?

Answer 3

Exists when people treat each other as they are entitled to be treated according to the law or specific moral rules or deserve to be treated because of specific good or bad behaviour

Question 4

How does the function of justice benefit the individual?

Answer 4

When people believe they’re being treated fairly it improves their wellbeing
Less anxiety
More happiness
Less depression

Question 5

How does the function of justice benefit the collective?

Answer 5

Society functions better if people treat each other fairly, are motivated to pull their weight, don’t abuse each other

Question 6

What are the 3 principles of justice (Deutsch, 1975)?

Answer 6

Equity principle: you get what you give, outcomes should be proportional to merit and contribution, if you work hard, you get more

Equality principle: we all get the same, resources should be distributed regardless of merit

Need principle: you get what you need, focus on what people need to survive and thrive

Question 7

What is the social exchange theory?

Answer 7

People seek to maximise their own benefits and minimise their costs
The more invested, the more attached you feel
Previous investments can prevent people from leaving under-rewarding relationships
Comparison level: expect benefits outweigh the cost of the relationship
Higher comparison level: expect benefits to greatly outweigh costs
Lower comparison level: might expect to just about ‘break even’

Question 8

What can cause dissatisfaction in a social exchange relationship?

Answer 8

If relationships don’t match expectations
Motivation to make relationships more personally rewarding or leave it

Question 9

What are some costs and rewards of being in a relationship?

Answer 9

Costs of being in a relationship: money spent, time spent, low self esteem

Rewards of being in a relationship: pleasure, satisfaction, financial support

Question 10

What is the equity theory?

Answer 10

People compare the net benefits they are receiving with the net benefits their partners receive
If under-benefitting people, people experience dissatisfaction
Over-benefitting can also lead to distress
Concerned with the fairness of the relationship
Motivation to restore equity

Question 11

What is the preferences vs doing right study (van den Bos et al, 2006)?

Answer 11

High vs low cognitive load
Better than other, equity and worse than other participant categories
When participants were better than others, they were more satisfied under high cognitive load than low cognitive load
Recognising injustice against others seems to take cognitive effort
Participants who were worse than others were more dissatisfied regardless of cognitive load
Doesn’t take cognitive effort to see you’re being disadvantaged

Question 12

What is the just world theory?

Answer 12

People have a deep seated need to view the world as fair and just

Question 13

What is the pleasure principle?

Answer 13

Pursuing immediate gratification regardless of long term consequences

Question 14

What is the reality principle?

Answer 14

Delay gratification to avoid punishments and earn longer term rewards

Question 15

What study did Lerner 1980 find?

Answer 15

Children learn that certain behaviours are rewarded and others are punished
‘Personal contact’ with the world, if they follow the moral rules, life will treat them fairly
This can be applied further e.g. good things happen to good people

Question 16

What is the positive illusion?

Answer 16

People want to believe that they live in a world that is safe and stable
Bad things only happen to bad people
Good things happen to good people
People blame the victims of misfortune in order to protect themselves from feeling vulnerable
People operate under the assumption that people get what they deserve and they deserve what they get

Question 17

What are the benefits of believing in a just world?

Answer 17

Positive effect
Optimism
Effective coping with stress
Better sleep
Lower levels of depression
Less loneliness

Question 18

What did Hafer 2000 find about long term goals and BJM (beliefs in a just world)?

Answer 18

Participants wrote an essay about a) their plans for after graduation (long-term goal condition) or their curriculum (control condition)
Watched a distressing video about a woman contracting HIV a) out of bad luck or b) out of negligence
When the victim was innocent, participants blamed and derogated her more after long-term planning than after no planning
BJW (belief in just world) seem to aid long-term planning and goal pursuit

Question 19

What are the downsides to believing in a just world according to Lerner and Simmons 1966 study?

Answer 19

Female participants watched a woman who ostensibly received electric shocks in a learning experiment when she got the answer wrong
In the “reward” condition, participants were able to assign the ”victim” to a condition where she would receive money instead of shocks
In the “martyr” condition, participants were told that the victim was accepting the shocks so the other participants wouldn’t have to
When participants could help the victim, they did so and evaluated her less harshly
Harshest evaluation in the martyr condition: motivation to devalue the victim should be the highest (particularly threatening to JWB because something bad is happening to a good person)

Question 20

What groups are disadvantaged due to just world beliefs?

Answer 20

Refugees
Those in poverty
Those with mental illness
Those who are unemployed
Just world beliefs predict the acceptance of rape myths
Rape myths: beliefs around sexual violence that aim to downplay or justify the violence or blame the victim

Question 21

What is a just world for the self VS just world for others?

Answer 21

Difference between the world is a just place for the self vs in general
In privileged samples, people believe more strongly in a just world for the self than just world for others

Question 22

What did Khera et al 2014 find?

Answer 22

235 refugee ps
BJW self and not BJW others correlated with lower stress, higher life satisfaction
BJW others and not BJW self correlated with negative attitudes towards refugees

Question 23

What studies show BJW can distort reality?

Answer 23

Participants misremember a woman as less attractive than she actually is if they learn that she was the victim of a house fire

After watching a justice-threatening video, participants misremember how much a lottery winner won if he is described as a bad person vs. a good person

Question 24

Are just world beliefs stable?

Answer 24

Relatively stable
Several investigations have shown that just world beliefs are unaffected by major life events, possibly as a result of a tendency to defend just world beliefs

e.g. Prisoners were found to have similar just world beliefs when compared to guards
Immigrants were found to have similar just world beliefs when compared to non-immigrants

Some life events are traumatic and can change belief systems
e.g. survivors of sexual aggression have weaker just world beliefs than non-survivors

Question 25

What is the principle of meritocracy?

Answer 25

success should be based on merit

Question 26

What is the ideology of meritocracy?

Answer 26

society is set up in a way where success is dependent entirely on merit

Question 27

What is the denial of inequality?

Answer 27

Justify the status quo
The more inequality, the more our belief in a just world is threatened, so the more motivated we are to protect our belief by denying inequality

Question 28

What did Napier et al 2020 find?

Answer 28

Denial of gender inequality higher in more unequal countries than more equal countries

Question 29

What gender is more likely to deny inequality and belief in a just world?

Answer 29

Men

Question 30

What is the group value model?

Answer 30

States that people care about injustice not only because of the outcomes they expect to receive, but because it matters to their social identity
Being treated fairly signals that I have high status in groups I care about
Unfair treatment is threatening because it makes us unsure about our standing in the group
Fair treatment = more investment in the group

Question 31

What is the fair process effect?

Answer 31

Participants told they’d work in pairs to win lottery tickets
Some participants given “voice” – chance to have input in how tickets should be distributed between themselves and partner
Rationale: Processes that give people a voice tend to be perceived as fair
Unknown outcome perceived as fairer when participants had a voice
Procedural justice as heuristic when we lack all information to evaluate distributive justice of an outcome

Question 32

What is altruism?

Answer 32

Prosocial behaviour (action that is positively valued by society)
Action performed to benefit another person without benefitting the self
Can be done at the expense of the self

Question 33

What is bystander intervention?

Answer 33

Act of helping someone in danger or distress by other people who are not the cause of that danger/distress

Question 34

What is the case of Kitty Genovese?

Answer 34

Kitty was stabbed by a stranger
38 witnesses
Perpetrator attacked her first and left, then returned later to rape and kill her
Inspired researchers to investigate why people intervene in emergency situations

Question 35

What did Manning et al 2007 find about the Kitty Genovese case?

Answer 35

38 witnesses is unlikely
Attack occurred in two separate locations, so few people could have witnessed the entire crime
Some witnesses apparently called the police but no emergency system (i.e., 911) was in place at the time – this changed afterwards
One witness shouted at the perpetrator from his window and scared him off

Question 36

What was the procedure for Darley and Latane 1968 study of the bystander effect?

Answer 36

Participants seated in room alone and communicated through intercom with other participants
Confederate pretended to have seizure, asked for help, and then choked
Participants believed that the incident was witnessed by :
Them alone
One other participant
Four other participants
DV: whether an attempt to help was made

Question 37

What were the results of Darley and Latane 1968 study of the bystander effect?

Answer 37

Willingness to help declined as number of bystanders increased
Longer hesitation as group size increased

Question 38

What is the diffusion of responsibility?

Answer 38

Perception that someone else will intervene

Question 39

What is the pluralistic ignorance?

Answer 39

Phenomenon whereby people wrongly assume, based on other’s actions, that they endorse a particular norm

Question 40

What is the study for pluralistic ignorance?

Answer 40

Pumped smoke into room where participants were completing questionnaires
When alone, 75% of participants reported smoke
3 participants: 38% reported smoke
Participant and two passive confederates: 10% reported smoke

Question 41

What is the bystander effect?

Answer 41

When in a hurry, people help less – perhaps because they are less likely to notice emergency
Motivated cognition processes: People sometimes inclined to interpret emergencies in ways that downplay the seriousness

Question 42

When do people help?

Answer 42

When they have consumed alcohol
When they’re with people they know/friends
Believe those who are in need of help are a part of your in group

Question 43

How does moral reasoning influence whether you help?

Answer 43

Extent to which willingness to help is a function of their own needs vs overarching moral standards
Individuals who use higher level reasoning to solve moral dilemmas generally show greater empathy and altruism

Question 44

What did Miller et al 1996 find about moral reasoning?

Answer 44

Children watched a video of an injured child
Option to play with toys or organise toys to be send to hospital
More likely to choose latter option to the extent that they used higher levels of moral reasoning

Question 45

Why is group membership important for offering help to others?

Answer 45

People are more empathic and helpful to people who are similar to them
e.g. similarity in fashion style, attitudes, nationality

Question 46

What did Levine et al 2005 study find about group memberships?

Answer 46

ManU fans completed questionnaires, then walked to different part of building
Watched a confederate slip and fall
This confederate wore a ManU jersey, Liverpool jersey, generic shirt
92% helped when the confederate wore a ManU jersey
33% helped when confederate wore Liverpool jersey
30% helped when confederate wore generic shirt
Ingroup similarity important for willingness to help others