Justice and foresight: The effect of belief in a just world and sense of control on delay discounting

Abstract

Discounting rate refers to people’s tendency to reduce the rate of subjective value from delayed benefit over time. The current study investigates the relationship among belief in a just world (BJW), sense of control, and discounting rate, especially the mediating effect of sense of control between BJW and discounting rate. The study recruited 412 undergraduates to complete a BJW scale, Sense of Control scale, and the Monetary Choice Questionnaire. The results show that (1) BJW positively predicted sense of control, (2) BJW and sense of control were negatively correlated with discounting rate, and (3) sense of control completely mediated the associations between BJW and discounting rate. These findings extend those of prior studies and indicate that a sense of control underlies the association between BJW and discounting rate.

The relationship between just world belief and wellbeing, cheating behaviors, and academic work behaviors during COVID 19 among university students

“…For example, students with higher PBJW are less likely to skip school, report lower test anxiety, and report fewer negative emotions than students with low PBJW 10 . Pursuing for long-term goals is also positively associated with PBJW 70 – 72 . Procrastinators have difficulty managing goals 73 and exhibit marked anxiety 67 .…”

The Impact of Attachment on Depression in Married Seniors: Chain Mediating Effects of Self-Esteem and Rumination

“…Initially, attachment referred to the emotional connection between an infant and caregivers and the internal working model or cognitive schema that developed from this interaction. Such a model continues throughout life, persistently affecting the physical and mental health of individuals (David and Bearden, 2017;Del Giudice, 2019;Peng et al, 2019b). Ongoing research on attachment has demonstrated that subjects were not limited to the major caregivers at an early stage of life, but that other people (e.g., family members, loving partners, teachers, and friends) can all become subjects of attachment (Fraley and Roisman, 2019).…”

The Mediating Role of Chinese College Students’ Control Strategies: Belief in a Just World and Life History Strategy

“…Conversely, stronger BJW indicates that individuals perceive a stable environment where effort can be rewarded, and individuals will focus more on somatic effort and long-term rewards. When BJW decreases, individuals are willing to accept smaller immediate rewards and have lower delayed gratification in the temporal discounting task ( Callan et al, 2009 ; Peng et al, 2019 ), and a range of variables related to delayed gratification have been repeatedly shown to be the main cogent indicators of LHS trade-offs ( Griskevicius et al, 2011b , 2013 ). The study by Meng et al (2019) also showed that BJW predicted the tendency to LHS.…”

“…When people believe that the world is just, stable, and orderly with predictable outcomes, they have confidence in long-term development and develop a greater sense of control ( Peng et al, 2019 ). Perceived control or sense of control refers to an individual’s perception that he or she is in control of the objective environment ( Lachman and Weaver, 1998 ).…”

“…Perceived control or sense of control refers to an individual’s perception that he or she is in control of the objective environment ( Lachman and Weaver, 1998 ). Studies have shown that BJW positively predicts individuals’ sense of control ( Yu et al, 2018 ; Peng et al, 2019 ), and sense of control is also a psychological driver of behaviors related to fast and slow LHS strategies ( Mittal and Griskevicius, 2014 ; Wang et al, 2017 ). This provides support for the mediating role played by the sense of control between BJW and LHS.…”