The "Just-World" View
Why bad things happen to good people?
“The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means”
Oscar Wilde, “The importance of Being Earnest”
People get what they deserve, but they deserve what they get?
Welcome to a new edition of “Students of Leadership”
The research that Melvin J Lerner did over the sixties, seventies and into the eighties developed basically the idea that each of us makes a commitment to living by deserving and justice, and to make that commitment we need to believe that people get what they deserve, that the world is fair and just.
The just world hypothesis leads us to think that good people are likely be rewarded and bad people are likely to get punished. From a psychological perspective, you can see children clearly going through this developmental stage, that helps organize the world… “bandits go to prison,” “if that person is bad why is she getting away with it,” “he is good and will not lose” are some of the expressions I heard my young say…
Most adults mature out of that binary view of the world, but some not; and unfortunately that becomes a real problem to grow as a leader and be able to drive a cause forward, specially as you want to become influential in the world.
“Just-world beliefs anesthetize people to the need to be proactive in building a power base”
Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer, author of “The 7 rules of Power”
The original research by Melvin Lerner
In the 1960s, Melvin Lerner and Carolyn Simmons conducted a groundbreaking experiment evaluating an intriguing psychological phenomenon. Participants watched what appeared to be live footage of a woman enduring painful electric shocks administered by a researcher. In reality, the events were staged, and both the researcher and the woman were actors. The woman seemed to suffer unjustly as she had done nothing to deserve such treatment, and she became the subject of the participants' perceptions.
When observers believed they could not compensate the woman for her suffering and thought they would continue to see her in distress, they tended to describe her character with a negative tone. This tendency was even more pronounced when the woman was perceived as altruistic, willingly enduring suffering to help others.
These findings reveal a profound insight into human psychology: the deep-seated need to maintain the belief that the world is inherently fair, where people get what they deserve; and when this belief is threatened—particularly by victims who endure undeserved suffering, and even more so if they are morally virtuous—it triggers a cognitive dissonance that people resolve by devaluing the victim.
This seminal experiment shows the length we are willing to go to in preserving our belief in a just world, otherwise a lot of things don’t seem to make sense.
The real problem with the "just-world view" is that it can be both comforting and misleading. The world is not always fair, and success is not solely determined by one's goodness or merit.
Three personal observations
1. The Illusion of Control:
The Just World View often leads people to believe that they have control over their outcomes, even if focusing on what they can control. While it is true that our actions and choices play a significant role in shaping our lives, external factors beyond our control can also influence our success. Unforeseen, underestimated or under-influenced circumstances can impact even the most hard working and deserving individuals.
Focusing sharply on what you can control is key to driving execution; but recognizing and studying the factors beyond your control will allow to mitigate risk, plan how to influence, and be ready to adapt and respond effectively. The point I am trying to make is that while obsessing with what you can’t directly control will not help, taking the idea of “focus on what you can control” to the extreme has the potential to undermine your best efforts. I believe there’s a better way to think about it.
Focus on executing with excellence what is directly under your control, learn to influence with clarity what indirectly limits what you can control, and be very proactive in studying what is not under your control, one day it may be.
2. Victim-Blaming Mentality:
One of the biggest dangers of the Just World View is the tendency to blame unfavorable external circumstances and individuals actions for our misfortunes. When we believe that good things happen to good people, we may unconsciously attribute negative outcomes to personal flaws, lack of effort or malicious actions. This mindset not only undermines empathy and self-awareness but also has a negative impact on building relationships, personal growth and development.
A good leaders must make the effort to avoid this mentality (for themselves and others) and understand that setbacks and failures can occur due to a multitude of factors, and it is essential to approach these situations with self-awareness when it’s about yourself, and empathy and desire to understand when it’s about others. It’s very easy to quickly box people. It would not be the first time that we see that someone in five minutes and based on a big splash is considered a star and high potential, to then 10 months later drop to a different category based on struggles. Was the person a star in the first place? Is the individual struggling now because of pure incompetence? You know what is one of the biggest paradoxes I have ever seen? the same leaders that easily tell everyone “the world is not fair,” (the opposite of a just-world view) are the ones that fall in the trap of the “just-world view” by easily categorizing people as talent or no talent in a heartbeat.
Watch out for this paradox, it will help you have a better pulse on people’s true potential.
3. Inequality and Systemic Biases:
The world is rife with inequalities and systemic biases that can hinder the progress of deserving individuals. Factors such as gender, race, socioeconomic background, and organizational politics can significantly impact opportunities and outcomes. Embracing a puristic Just World View can blind us to systemic biases and preventing us from addressing and rectifying them. As leaders, we have a responsibility to create inclusive and fair environments that allow everyone to thrive. The self-serving bias is a type of bias that attributes success to personal factors and failures to external factors. The halo effect is also a bias anchored in the belief that attractive or successful people are good people who deserve their success.
Not paying attention to this can create a lack of compassion towards those who are struggling. When we perceive success as solely a result of personal virtues, we may fail to acknowledge the external factors that contribute to someone's hardships. Cultivating compassion and empathy for others allows us to build stronger relationships, foster collaboration, and create a more supportive work environment, while helping those struggling see with more clarity what the root causes of some of the problem may be.
In summary, instill compassion, empathy and self-awareness as a leader, because your number one job is to get your team members out of anything remotely close to developing the victim mentality; otherwise only drama will blossom, never leadership.
Leading with Clarity in an Unjust World
Here’s the hard truth: the world isn’t fair, and leaders who cling to the illusion of a “just-world view” set themselves up for failure. Success demands accepting this reality not as an excuse for unethical behavior, but as a call to lead with sharper clarity, stronger ethics, and unwavering purpose.
Pragmatism doesn’t mean compromising integrity.
It means making decisions that uphold your core values, even under intense pressure to deliver results. Integrity is non-negotiable, it’s the bedrock of trust, credibility, and lasting success. When your actions consistently reflect your values, you build a culture where others follow that example, creating a ripple effect that amplifies impact fortifying the organization’s foundation.
Challenging the just-world view starts with acknowledging an uncomfortable reality: effort and virtue do not always dictate outcomes. This is not a reason to retreat, rather a mandate to act boldly. Leaders who rise above this myth understand that delivering high-impact results and building a resilient culture require intentionality, not naïve optimism.
High-performing cultures are built on deliberate choices, not wishful thinking.
Leaders who embrace this truth create environments where individuals are empowered to navigate obstacles and seize opportunities for growth. It’s not about hoping for fairness—it’s about equipping your team to thrive despite unfairness, with a focus on learning, adaptability, and relentless pursuit of excellence.
What is the alternative view then?
In an online course I took years ago with Wharton School of Business, this idea of the “Just-World,” was discussed as a risk to develop your true potential. The alternative presented was called the“Rough-World View” In this world view there are four main dimensions of thinking that require a bit more of sophistication to achieve higher impact as a leader:
Hard work is a necessary condition to success, but not a sufficient determinant of success. Not always hard work yields ‘fair’ results.
Merit matters but relationships also matter, sometimes in equally proportions, sometimes not at all.
Good intentions are not always rewarded, at best good intentions are sometimes considered as part of different alternatives and will not win by themselves.
Good things and bad things happen both to good and bad people. Deal with it, learn from it.
With this in mind, the real gap to be addressed through self-awareness (for the self) and empathy (for others) is the one that helps people move from Expertise to Influence, from Competence to Impact.
Stop waiting for the world to align with your sense of fairness; lead with clarity and commit to integrity.
Build legacy by shaping a culture that outperforms and outlasts everything and everyone.
This is what it means to lead in a tough world.
Reflect on these areas, think about the beliefs that limit your actions, improve the way you communicate and adjust how you expect the world to perceive you.
Make a plan to change not your habits, but yourself because it is deeper rooted than you think, you may need to mature out of your own world view.
P.S. Before I go, here you have “The Treat,” where I share some of the music that made me company while writing … Enjoy as you bid farewell to this post
Today is not a song but a long playlist that made me company for over 2 hours while thinking and writing in a very early and cold Saturday morning
“Lead yourself, Learn to live. Lead others, Learn to Build.”
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