The role of personal control in the palliative function of system justification among indigenous and non-indigenous Peruvian students / El rol del control personal en la función paliativa de la justificación del sistema entre la población indígena y no indígena de estudiantes peruanos

Abstract

In this article we propose a mediation model for the association between system justification and psychological well-being (i.e., the palliative function of ideology), based on system justification theory and compensatory control theory. Specifically, we argue that endorsing system-justifying beliefs leads to increased perceived personal control, which in turn predicts higher well-being. We used a convenience sample of students from two Peruvian universities. The results showed that system justification was related to general psychological well-being and personal control. In addition, indigenous students rated lower on system justification, general psychological wellbeing, self-esteem and personal control. Next, we found that the association between system justification and general psychological well-being was stronger among indigenous students, and this relationship was partially mediated by personal control. In addition, we showed that the mediation model is moderated by ethnicity, so that personal control is a mediator only among non-indigenous participants. We conclude that personal control is a mechanism involved in the palliative function of ideology among this group. Finally, we discuss possible explanations for the mechanisms involved in the palliative function of ideology among low-status individuals.

Examining the relational underpinnings and consequences of system‐justifying beliefs: Explaining the palliative effects of system justification

“…Although belongingness has long been known to contribute to psychological well-being (Baumeister & Leary, 1995;Townsend & McWhirter, 2005), its ability to transmit system-justifying beliefs into palliative benefits has been neglected in the literature. Indeed, research on the palliative effects of system-justifying beliefs typically focus on how system justification minimizes perceptions of discrimination (Bahamondes et al, 2019(Bahamondes et al, , 2020Suppes et al, 2019), increases perceived control (McCoy et al, 2013;Vargas-Salfate, 2019), or buffers the adverse effects of active harm (Harding & Sibley, 2013) and individual-based relative deprivation (Osborne & Sibley, 2013). Here, we show that belongingness also mediates the positive association between system justification and well-being.…”

“…Further research has shown that system-justifying beliefs confer palliative benefits (irrespective of group status, contrary to Jost and Hunyady's (2003) initial predictions) through diverse mechanisms. For instance, system justification increases well-being by (1) reducing the extent to which the disadvantaged see themselves (or their group) as targets of discrimination (Bahamondes, Gómez, Barrientos, Cárdenas, & Guzmán, 2020;Bahamondes, Sibley, & Osborne, 2019;Suppes, Napier, & Van der Toorn, 2019), (2) buffering the deleterious effect of interpersonal aggression (Harding & Sibley, 2013), (3) increasing personal control (McCoy, Wellman, Cosley, Saslow, & Epel, 2013;Vargas-Salfate, 2019) or perceived upward mobility (Li, Wu, & Kou, 2019), and/or (4) weakening the effect individual-based relative deprivation has on psychological distress and dissatisfaction with one's standard of living (Osborne & Sibley, 2013). Thus, the paths through which system-justifying beliefs confer palliative benefits seem to relate to overlooking a given form of inequality or negative experience in order to maintain positive views of the system (Jost & Hunyady, 2003;Lerner, 1980).…”

Nacionalismo, patriotismo y legitimación de los sistemas sociales nacionales

“…System Justification. As the first dependent variable, we use system justification scale (Kay & Jost, 2003) as in Study 1, but adapted for Peru (Vargas-Salfate, 2019). This measure was highly reliable (α = .71).…”