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Melvin Lerner’s Followers (3)
Melvin Lerner
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The Belief in a Just World: A Fundamental Delusion
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published
1980
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4 editions
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“However if the costs for "direct help" are high, then "indirect help," and "justification for not helping and running away," are to be expected. It is only if the person anticipates great cost in terms of social sanctions, anticipated feelings of guilt (Rawlings, 1970) for not directly helping, and low cost in the perspective helping act, that people can be expected to actually intervene in a given situation.”
― The Belief in a Just World: A Fundamental Delusion
― The Belief in a Just World: A Fundamental Delusion
“Dissonance theory cannot, nor was it intended to, enable us to understand why people are strongly committed to cognitions like the belief in a just world. The belief that one lives in a just world, just as the belief that one is a decent, worthwhile person, seems to play a central role in the organization of the persons' life. The clear implication here is that what is at stake for the individual when these cognitions are threatened is not only the negative drive state generated out of holding dissonant cognitions, but the very integrity of their conceptions of themselves and the nature of their world.
This is easier possibly to recognize with reference to the belief that one is a worthy human being. The evidence suggests that, if and when that cognition is altered significantly, then there are widespread and dramatic effects on people's lives. They are not for all intents and purposes the same people with different cognitions about themselves. The range of affect they experience, ways of relating to others, kinds of thought processes they engage in, ability to mobilize themselves, are radically altered if their sense of self-worth is reduced. If our understanding of the belief in a just world is correct, then we would expect that the effects would be equally dramatic if that belief is shattered, or diminished to any important degree. The emotional consequences associated with the loss of this confidence in one's environment, the attempt to find alternative ways of coping with one's needs, fears and the threats from the environment, would product "deviant" behaviors in the pejorative sense.”
― The Belief in a Just World: A Fundamental Delusion
This is easier possibly to recognize with reference to the belief that one is a worthy human being. The evidence suggests that, if and when that cognition is altered significantly, then there are widespread and dramatic effects on people's lives. They are not for all intents and purposes the same people with different cognitions about themselves. The range of affect they experience, ways of relating to others, kinds of thought processes they engage in, ability to mobilize themselves, are radically altered if their sense of self-worth is reduced. If our understanding of the belief in a just world is correct, then we would expect that the effects would be equally dramatic if that belief is shattered, or diminished to any important degree. The emotional consequences associated with the loss of this confidence in one's environment, the attempt to find alternative ways of coping with one's needs, fears and the threats from the environment, would product "deviant" behaviors in the pejorative sense.”
― The Belief in a Just World: A Fundamental Delusion
“Obviously, in the final calculations there are "costs" and "benefits" which are associated with the various alternatives the person perceives possible in the situation. The final act or sequence of acts reflects what Hatfield (1980) considers the first principle of human social behavior.
Proposition 1. Individuals will try to maximize their outcomes (where outcomes equal rewards minus costs.) (p. 2)”
― The Belief in a Just World: A Fundamental Delusion
Proposition 1. Individuals will try to maximize their outcomes (where outcomes equal rewards minus costs.) (p. 2)”
― The Belief in a Just World: A Fundamental Delusion
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