General Belief in a Just World Is Positively Associated with Dishonest Behavior

Personality and behavioral dishonesty

The past two decades have seen major developments in the study of behavioral (dis)honesty and its measurement as well as a surge of interest in the location of trait honesty within models of basic personality structure and the role of personality traits in behavioral dishonesty more generally. The present review provides an overview of the corresponding literature with a particular emphasis on recent developments and identifies the research questions for which we now have relatively reliable knowledge as well as those that will require future research.

Students' Perceptions of University Corruption in a Spanish Public University: A Path Analysis

Most research on corruption in educational settings has focused on a cross-national and macro-level analysis; however, to our knowledge, few papers have sought to explore individual perceptions that explain corruption in higher education. The present research aimed to disentangle students’ predictors of corrupt intention in a Spanish public university. A total of 933 undergraduate, postgraduate, and Ph.D. students filled out an online survey measuring four corruption scenarios: favoritism, bribery, fraud, and embezzlement. Path analysis (PA) revealed that justifiability, risk perception, and perceived prevalence of corruption were significant factors in predicting corrupt intention. Moreover, willingness to report a corrupt act was predicted by corrupt intention, justifiability, and risk perception. Corrupt behavior is a complex phenomenon explained not only by peers’ behavior, but also by their individual justifications and perception of risk. Education is not free of corruption, and universities must address this urgent problem in order to avoid future economic, societal, and ethical problems.

The Role of Defensive Pessimism and Love and Sex Perception on Rape Victim Blame Attribution among Public Servants in a Nigerian City

Existing literature have decried the propensity to blame victims of rape which ultimately translates worryingly into a tolerance of crimes against persons. Being a lopsided and an understudied phenomenon, the present study sets out to explore the role of defensive pessimism and love, and sex perception on rape victim blaming among civil servants in Akwa Ibom State Civil Service Commission, Nigeria. Using a cross-sectional survey research design, 167 civil servants were recruited, comprising 84 males and 83 females, with mean age of 36.29 and standard deviation of 8.53. To measure variables of interest, three instruments: Perception of Love and Sex Scale, Attitudes Towards Rape Victims Scale, and the revised Defensive Pessimism Questionnaire were adopted. To analyze the information obtained from the measuring instruments, descriptive and regression statistics were employed, and results indicated that the less defensive pessimism civil servants reported, the more victim blame they exhibited. Findings also revealed that civil servants who perceived love and sex negatively reported more victim blame. From this study, a new link was formed between variables of interest and the need for adequate mass sensitization on the urgent need of condemning strongly acts of rape and sexual assaults, coupled with advocacy for desensitization on victim blame among "survivors" (rape victims).

Belief in a just world, health-related quality of life, and mental health among Chinese patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

PURPOSE

Personal belief in a just world (PBJW) has been demonstrated to protect mental health. However, whether general belief in a just world (GBJW) serves adaptive functions for mental health across different groups and cultures remains unclear. This study explored the effects of PBJW and GBJW on mental health and moderating effects of PBJW and GBJW on the relation between health-related quality of life and mental health among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in China.

METHODS

A total of 147 patients with COPD (90.5% male; mean age = 64.44 years) completed measures of health-related quality of life, depression, anxiety, PBJW, and GBJW and provided pulmonary function data.

RESULTS

Younger age and female sex were related to higher depression; female sex, living with others, and high financial burden were associated with higher anxiety. Worse health-related quality of life and lower PBJW were associated with higher depression and anxiety. An interaction between health-related quality of life and BJW was revealed. For patients with low PBJW, lower health-related quality of life was correlated with higher depression. For patients with stronger endorsement of GBJW, worse health-related quality of life was associated with higher depression and anxiety, but the variance of anxiety caused by interaction was insignificant.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that for patients with COPD experiencing health deterioration, holding strong PBJW but weak GBJW may be beneficial for mental health. Our study advances our understanding of the different functions of PBJW and GBJW in mental health across different groups and cultures.

Personal Belief in a Just World and Conscientiousness: A meta-analysis, facet-level examination, and mediation model

Extensive research efforts have been devoted to understanding the nature of Conscientiousness, the only Big Five personality trait that has been robustly linked to professional achievement and longevity. We proposed that Conscientiousness is associated with Personal Belief in a Just World (PBJW), that is, the extent to which an individual believes that her or his efforts will be rewarded. To investigate this proposition, we undertook a meta-analysis synthesizing past findings regarding the relationship between PBJW and Conscientiousness; we confirmed a positive relationship between the two constructs (r = .16) based on 17 samples and 5,810 individuals. We further proposed a theoretical framework linking PBJW to specific facets of Conscientiousness. A survey of a representative sample of the US population (n = 311) confirmed that PBJW is positively correlated with the specific facets of Self-efficacy, Achievement-striving, and Self-discipline. Internal Locus of Control mediated these associations, elucidating the underlying processes linking PBJW and Conscientiousness.