Asymmetrical Effects of Justice Sensitivity Perspectives on Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior

Abstract

Three studies explore the effects of perspective-specific justice sensitivity on indicators of both prosocial behavior (i.e., existential guilt, solidarity, and responsibility ascriptions towards the disadvantaged) and antisocial behavior (i.e., the willingness to transgress a norm in a moral temptation dilemma). On the basis of theoretical considerations and earlier findings it is expected that being sensitive towards injustice from a beneficiary's perspective is associated positively with prosocial and negatively with antisocial behavior, whereas the opposite should be true for being sensitive towards injustice from a victim's perspective. The results from all three studies support these hypotheses. It is argued that JS-beneficiary indicates a genuine, "other-oriented" concern for justice and social responsibility, whereas JS-victim indicates a mixture of "self-related" and justice-related concerns.KEY WORDS: justice sensitivity; prosocial behavior; antisocial behavior; moral concerns.Research on moral behavior has identified several situation and personality factors that contribute uniquely or in interaction to the explanation of moral, prosocial, and norm-compliant versus deceitful, antisocial, and delinquent behavior. Among the most powerful situation factors are behavioral costs and benefits and the presence of others who act as models, exert social control, or contribute to the diffusion of responsibility (Piliavin and Piliavin, 1972;Piliavin et al., 1981;Schwartz, 1977). Studies on deceit (Batson et al., 1997(Batson et al., , 1999Hartshorne and May, 1928) and bystander intervention (Clarkson, 1996) demonstrate how strongly moral behavior depends on the situational context.

Are “We” More Punitive than “Me”? Self-Construal Styles, Justice-Related Attitudes, and Punitive Judgments

“…Indeed, we found positive correlations between relatedness and being sensitive to injustice from a beneficiary's perspective (which is, in turn, correlated with more prosocial behavior, cf. Fetchenhauer & Huang, 2004;Gollwitzer et al, 2005), as well as social responsibility.…”

“…More concretely, interdependence should be positively correlated with justice sensitivity, both from a neutral observer's perspective and from a potential beneficiary's perspective (cf. Gollwitzer, Schmitt, Schalke, Maes, & Baer, 2005;Schmitt, Gollwitzer, Maes, & Arbach, 2005). Furthermore, an interdependent self-construal should be related to greater social responsibility (Berkowitz & Daniels, 1963).…”

Significant Predictors of Soccer Players’ Moral Functioning from Components of Contextual Injustice, Sensitivity to Injustice and Moral Atmosphere

“…This research shows that people who were sensitive as victims may be more egocentric than people who were sensitive as beneficiaries, with the former more concerned about principles of justice and equity only when they were victims of an injustice, and the latter more altruistic and concerned about equity and justice independently of their participation in the situation. These asymmetrical effects were confirmed by Gollwitzer, Schmitt, Schalke, Maes, and Baer (2005), who investigated the effects of the injustice sensitivity dimensions on the adoption of prosocial or antisocial behaviours when facing a moral dilemma. The results demonstrated that whereas the victim dimension was related to the adoption of antisocial behaviours, the beneficiary dimension was related to the adoption of prosocial behaviours.…”

“…The results of Goutas et al (2003), Salhani et al (2005) and Faccenda et al (2005) led us to expect that facing an injustice would predict the adoption of a lower level of moral functioning. Based on the research of associates (1996, 2005), Mohiyeddini and Schmitt (1997) and Gollwitzer et al (2005), sensitivity to injustice was also expected to be a significant predictor of players' moral functioning. However, previous research suggests that the dimensions of sensitivity to injustice need to be distinguished.…”

Environmental Dilemmas Revisited: Structural Consequences from the Angle of Institutional Ergonomics

“…Institutions can only be successful if the latter is true, and psychology can contribute with research and know-how. This research is closely related to psychological research about justice and justice sensitivity (like, for instance, Gollwitzer, Schmitt, Schalke, Maes, & Baer, 2005).…”