Belief in a Just World as a Basis for Biased System Attitudes and Their Palliative Effect: The Context Matters

Although system-justifying beliefs can have a palliative effect on citizens, the underlying mechanisms and contextual moderators of this association are relatively unknown. Because system threats are likely to strengthen a defensive bolstering of the system, we assumed that the motivational factors behind system justification exert a stronger palliative effect in more dysfunctional systems. Specifically, we hypothesized that belief in a just world (BJW) would enhance well-being, particularly in countries with low system performance. Using nationally representative data from 29 countries ( N = 49,519), multilevel analyses revealed indirect effects of BJW on subjective well-being via attitudes toward the system. Notably, these effects were stronger in countries with lower system performance. Our findings suggest that dysfunctional political-institutional systems can catalyze the bias of BJW in citizens’ perception of system performance, thus influencing subjective well-being. This highlights the importance of considering the social context when examining the palliative and system-justifying functions of BJW.