Not All Victims Matter”: Belief in a Just World, Intergroup Relations and Victim Blaming

The present research investigated the process of victim blaming in the context of intergroup relations through the just world hypothesis. In two studies we tested the infl uence of the victim’s social category in the relationship between explicit and implicit beliefs in a just world (BJW) and victim blaming. In Study 1, 102 participants answered the explicit and implicit measures of BJW and evaluated how much a stray bullet victim (ingroup X outgroup) was to blame. In Study 2, aside from the manipulation of victim social category, we included a manipulation of cognitive load. 110 participants answered the BJW measures and evaluated how much a stray bullet victim (ingroup X outgroup) was to blame in a situation of cognitive load (low X high). It was verifi ed that the victim’s social category interferes in the relationship between BJW and victim blaming. When explicit or implicit BJW explained blaming, that effect was restricted to the evaluation of an ingroup victim. The fi ndings of the present research confi rm the hypothesis that ingroup victims are more threatening to individual’s BJW and indicate the importance of considering the victim’s social category for a more adequate understanding of the just world hypothesis.