Belief in a Just World
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The Belief in a Just and Predictable World
If you were asked why you think people are homeless and poor, what would your answer be? Would you say that it is the individual's own fault that he or she is in that predicament? If yes, you are not alone. Many people do tend to believe that the poor and homeless people are responsible for their own sufferings and deserve their misfortunes. This belief may be influenced by the widespread tendency of believing that victims of misfortunes deserve what happens to them. Hence, when people look at the poor and homeless, they tend to "blame the victim".
The tendency of believing that people deserve what they get is not, however, limited to just the homeless and poor. In a Fort Lauderdale rape trial, an accused rapist was found not guilty and the rape victim was instead blamed for the incident. The jurors had said that the victim was bound to attract attention based on the attire that she was wearing (white lace miniskirt, no underwear, and a small tanktop). Even though the victim was kidnapped at knife point and raped twice, the jurors showed no sympathy towards her...