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Perceived Deservingness of Outcomes as a Function of Religious Fundamentalism and Target Responsibility
Author(s) -
GALEN LUKE W.,
MILLER TODD R.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2011.00808.x
Subject(s) - fundamentalism , religiosity , psychology , outcome (game theory) , social psychology , situational ethics , perception , negativity effect , impression formation , valence (chemistry) , social perception , political science , chemistry , law , organic chemistry , mathematics , mathematical economics , neuroscience , politics
We examined the perception of deserved outcomes associated with religious fundamentalism (RF). Interviews with videotaped targets varied in target's religiosity, responsibility, and outcome valence (good/bad). Participants either low (LF) or high (HF) on RF formulated an impression of how deserving a target was for a situational outcome. Participants low in RF held targets to be less deserving of a bad outcome than a good one; the HF group showed this to a lesser degree. HFs believed the target was more deserving of a bad outcome than did LFs, even when the target was not responsible for the outcome. Religious fundamentalism is related to attributing greater deservingness of bad outcomes, possibly because of a greater belief in a just world.