Abstract
Building and extending on justice theories and work on self-regulation, the current paper proposes a self-activation hypothesis
of affective reactions to fair and unfair events, stating that in circumstances in which people’s selves are activated, stronger
affective reactions to fair and unfair events are more likely, compared to circumstances in which people’s selves are not
or less strongly activated. Findings of two experiments indeed show that simply activating the self (supraliminally or even
subliminally) amplifies affective reactions to fair and unfair procedures (Experiment 1) and fair and unfair outcomes (Experiment
2). These findings thus reveal the important role of activation of the self for understanding fairness reactions. In the discussion,
we note the relevance of our self-activation hypothesis for insights into different accounts formulated in the justice domain.
of affective reactions to fair and unfair events, stating that in circumstances in which people’s selves are activated, stronger
affective reactions to fair and unfair events are more likely, compared to circumstances in which people’s selves are not
or less strongly activated. Findings of two experiments indeed show that simply activating the self (supraliminally or even
subliminally) amplifies affective reactions to fair and unfair procedures (Experiment 1) and fair and unfair outcomes (Experiment
2). These findings thus reveal the important role of activation of the self for understanding fairness reactions. In the discussion,
we note the relevance of our self-activation hypothesis for insights into different accounts formulated in the justice domain.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-19
- DOI 10.1007/s11211-011-0122-y
- Authors
- Kees van den Bos, Department of Social Psychology, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Joost Miedema, Staff Office Education and Applied Research, Hanze University Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Riël Vermunt, Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Frederike Zwenk, Justice Administration, Legislation, International and Aliens Affairs Division, Research and Documentation Centre of the Dutch Ministry of Justice, The Hague, The Netherlands
- Journal Social Justice Research
- Online ISSN 1573-6725
- Print ISSN 0885-7466