Just-World Beliefs and Attributions of Causal Responsibility Among Korean Adolescents

Abstract

This article explores Korean adolescents' perceptions of justice and attributions of causal responsibility for an event presented in a narrative scenario. Factors varied in the design included partici pant's gender (male vs. female), scenario target person's gender (male vs. female), the target person's personal history (good vs. bad), and the event outcome (positive vs. negative). Although, objectively, the scenario event outcome was random (a lottery), the majority of participants interpreted it in terms of Korean just-world beliefs. Quantitative analyses showed that the adolescents reported higher degrees of justice when the scenario person and outcome valences were correspondent than when they were noncorrespondent. Quali tative analyses of the adolescents' free-response comments about the scenario revealed justice perceptions and attributions of causal responsibility that were contingent on the target person's and the justice authority's (Haneul) fulfillment of role obligations pre scribed by Korean just-world beliefs (inkwaeungbo).