Descriptive and Prescriptive Beliefs About Justice: A Sino-U.S. Comparison

Abstract

The present article focuses on the distinction between descriptive (i.e., what will happen) and prescriptive (i.e., what should happen) beliefs in justice and shows that person valence and belief type had an interactive effect on outcome valence. Specifically, the 2 (Chinese and American culture) x 2 (Good and Bad person) x 2 (Will as descriptive and Should as prescriptive belief) study revealed that both Chinese and Americans believe that good people should receive better outcomes than they will; but Chinese believe that bad people should receive worse outcomes than they will, whereas Americans believe that bad people should receive better outcomes than they will. This may suggest that, in comparison with Chinese, Americans are more tolerant of or lenient toward immoral behavior and are prescriptively less committed to moral justice.