@article{ref1,
title="We Blame Innocent Victims More Than I Do: Self-Construal Level Moderates Responses to Just-World Threats",
journal="Personality and social psychology bulletin",
year="2009",
author="van Prooijen, Jan-Willem and van den Bos, Kees",
volume="35",
number="11",
pages="1528-1539",
abstract="This study investigated the impact of self-construal levels on people’s tendency to blame innocent victims for the victims’ fates. The authors hypothesized that when the belief in a just world is threatened, social self-construal is associated with more victim blaming than individual self-construal is. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were primed with either the individual self (with the word I) or the social self (with the word we). Results indeed showed that when threats to just-world beliefs were high, social self-activation produced more victim blaming than individual self-activation did. This effect was not found when just-world threats were low. Extending on these findings, Experiment 3 revealed that, following a just-world threat, an independent self-construal measure was negatively related to victim blaming, and an interdependent self-construal measure was positively related to victim blaming. It is concluded that self-construal levels are important to understanding the justice motive.<p />",
language="",
issn="0146-1672",
doi="10.1177/0146167209344728",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167209344728"
}