Conceptualization, Measurement, and Validation of Effort- and Valence-Based Just World Beliefs

Abstract

Abstract. In this research, we propose that belief in a just world (BJW) can be divided into two distinct beliefs: one addressing the notion that efforts are rewarded, that is, effort-based BJW, and another maintaining that the valence associated with moral character leads to particular consequences, that is, valence-based BJW (e.g., good people are rewarded and bad people are punished). We used culturally relevant proverbs to design measures in German and Chinese. Samples of college students and working adults from both countries were collected to assess the reliability, factor structure, validity, and the nomological consistency of the newly developed measures. Both measures demonstrated strong evidence of the existence of and distinction between effort- and valence-based BJW, and they displayed unique patterns in predicting different variables beyond the effect of personal BJW and BJW for others, which may elucidate the precise justice beliefs related to different phenomena.