Why do we believe that we get what we deserve?

The 

Just-world Hypothesis

, explained.
Bias

What is the Just-world Hypothesis?

The just-world hypothesis (also referred to as the just-world bias, just-world fallacy, or just-world theory) refers to our belief that the world is fair, and consequently, that the moral standings of our actions will determine our outcomes. This viewpoint causes us to believe that those who do good will be rewarded and those who exhibit dishonest behaviors will be punished.

Where it occurs

Imagine that it’s a Friday evening and you and your friends are leaving your favorite restaurant. Spirits are high as you walk back to the side street where you parked your cars. Your friend Paul’s lively demeanor quickly changes as his car comes into view with the passenger door wide open. He runs to assess the damage, finding that his car radio and laptop have been stolen. You console Paul and ask how this could have happened, and he says he has no idea. You continue to comfort your friend, but you can’t help but feel that he must have left his doors unlocked and laptop in plain sight. You start to think about how Paul is always so absent-minded and maybe needed a bit of a wake-up call.

Here, we can see how the just-world hypothesis can shape our perceptions of events in our daily lives. You assume that what goes around comes around, and thus rationalize Paul’s misfortune as a consequence of his negative actions or characteristics. You even distort your perception of Paul to find a reason that he was robbed instead of you.

The just-world hypothesis leads people to rationalize unfair outcomes, even when external factors, like high crime rates in the area, play a role. This cognitive bias helps people feel safe because we like to be able to attribute causes to events. But at the same time, it often ignores the complexity of real-world injustice.

Sources

  1. Rubin, Z., & Peplau, L. A. (1975). Who Believes in a Just World? Journal of Social Issues, 31(3), 65–89. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1975.tb00997.x
  2. Ibid.
  3. Lerner, M. J. (1980). The Belief in a Just World. Springer US.
  4. Strömwall, L. A., Alfredsson, H., & Landström, S. (2012). Rape victim and perpetrator blame and the Just World Hypothesis. The influence of victim gender and age. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 1-11, 10.1080/13552600.2012.683455 
  5. Culda, G., Opre, A., & Dobrin, A. (2018). Victim blaming by women and men who believe the world is a just place. Cognition, Brain, Behavior. An interdisciplinary journal, 22, 99-110. 10.24193/cbb.2018.22.07. 
  6. Whatley, M. (1993). Belief in a Just World Scale: Unidimensional or Multidimensional?. The Journal of Social Psychology, 133. 547-551. 10.1080/00224545.1993.9712180. 
  7. Reich, B., & Wang, X. (2015). And justice for all: Revisiting the Global Belief in a Just World Scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 78. 10.1016/j.paid.2015.01.031. 
  8. Lipkus, I. (1991). The construction and preliminary validation of a global belief in a just world scale and the exploratory analysis of the multidimensional belief in a just world scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 12(11), 1171-1178. 
  9. Aderman, D., Brehm, S. S., & Katz, L. B. (1974). Empathic observation of an innocent victim: The just world revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 29(3), 342–347. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0036001
  10. PwC. Consumers willing to pay 9.7% sustainability premium, even as cost-of-living and inflationary concerns weigh: PwC 2024 Voice of the Consumer Survey. PwC. https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/news-room/press-releases/2024/pwc-2024-voice-of-consumer-survey.html
  11. Hadarics, M., & Kende, A. (2025). Belief in a Just World as a Basis for Biased System Attitudes and Their Palliative Effect: The Context Matters. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 16(2), 149-158. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506231204463
  12. Kim, S., & Woo Sohn, Y. (2020). The effect of Belief in a Just World on the acceptance of AI technology. Korean Journal of Psychology: General, 39(4), 517-542. 
  13. Jost, J. T., & van der Toorn, J. (2012). System justification theory. In P. A. M. Van Lange, A. W. Kruglanski, & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of theories of social psychology (pp. 313–343). Sage Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446249222.n42
  14. Festinger, L. (1962). Cognitive Dissonance. Scientific American, 207(4), 93–106.
  15. Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow. Doubleday Canada.
  16. Lerner, M. J. (1980).The Belief in a Just World: A Fundamental Delusion. Springer.

About the Authors

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Dan Pilat

Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.

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Dr. Sekoul Krastev

Sekoul is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. A decision scientist with a PhD in Decision Neuroscience from McGill University, Sekoul's work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals and has been presented at conferences around the world. Sekoul previously advised management on innovation and engagement strategy at The Boston Consulting Group as well as on online media strategy at Google. He has a deep interest in the applications of behavioral science to new technology and has published on these topics in places such as the Huffington Post and Strategy & Business.

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