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social psychology
You blame the victim to feel safer yourself.
People often assume that victims of misfortune deserve their fate to maintain a belief in a just world.
This cognitive bias suggests that the world is a fair place where people get what they earn. When you see someone suffer, the discomfort of the situation leads you to find flaws in their actions to justify why they deserved the outcome.
Fairness is a narrative, not a state of reality.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Lerner, 1980
- What the check found
- The claim is a well-established psychological finding attributed to Melvin Lerner. The provided reference material is irrelevant, as it describes a different individual with the same surname.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.