Just-world theory research investigates how an individual's world-view influences his/her behavior when confronted with injustice. The purpose of the present study was to examine the utility of multiple continual physiological measurements as predictors of just-world motivated behavior such as immanent justice reasoning (IJR) in a replication of Callan, Ellard, and Nicol's (2006) study. Participants (N=109) were assigned to one of two narrative groups - either an adulterous scenario or a non-adulterous scenario. It was hypothesized that levels of IJR would be higher in the justice-threat than the non-threat condition, and that measures of physiological arousal would predict IJR. Results show that significantly higher responses of IJR were observed during the non-adulterous condition. Additionally, physiological indicators of emotional arousal correctly predicted IJR. These results indicate that physiological measures are useful in assessing justice-threat scenarios, and further research should use such indicators in addition to self-report affect measures.
","abstract_html":"<p>Just-world theory research investigates how an individual's world-view influences his/her behavior when confronted with injustice. The purpose of the present study was to examine the utility of multiple continual physiological measurements as predictors of just-world motivated behavior such as immanent justice reasoning (IJR) in a replication of Callan, Ellard, and Nicol's (2006) study. Participants (N=109) were assigned to one of two narrative groups - either an adulterous scenario or a non-adulterous scenario. It was hypothesized that levels of IJR would be higher in the justice-threat than the non-threat condition, and that measures of physiological arousal would predict IJR. Results show that significantly higher responses of IJR were observed during the non-adulterous condition. Additionally, physiological indicators of emotional arousal correctly predicted IJR. These results indicate that physiological measures are useful in assessing justice-threat scenarios, and further research should use such indicators in addition to self-report affect measures.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Bruner, Reino L."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Open Access Thesis","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Silvia von Kluge, PhD, Chair","Tom Figurski, PhD","Tanweer Shapla, PhD"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-03-05T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2014-03-05T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:16:57Z","subjects":["Justice","emotions","judgment","Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.emich.edu/theses/598","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Silvia von Kluge, PhD, Chair","Tom Figurski, PhD","Tanweer Shapla, PhD"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Bruner, Reino L."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-11-17T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Justice","emotions","judgment","Psychology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/598"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Just-world theory research investigates how an individual's world-view influences his/her behavior when confronted with injustice. The purpose of the present study was to examine the utility of multiple continual physiological measurements as predictors of just-world motivated behavior such as immanent justice reasoning (IJR) in a replication of Callan, Ellard, and Nicol's (2006) study. Participants (N=109) were assigned to one of two narrative groups - either an adulterous scenario or a non-adulterous scenario. It was hypothesized that levels of IJR would be higher in the justice-threat than the non-threat condition, and that measures of physiological arousal would predict IJR. Results show that significantly higher responses of IJR were observed during the non-adulterous condition. Additionally, physiological indicators of emotional arousal correctly predicted IJR. These results indicate that physiological measures are useful in assessing justice-threat scenarios, and further research should use such indicators in addition to self-report affect measures.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Physiological measures differentiate distinct domains of immanent justice reasoning"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Silvia von Kluge, PhD, Chair","Tom Figurski, PhD","Tanweer Shapla, PhD"],"dc:creator":["Bruner, Reino L."],"dc:date.available":["2014-11-17T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Just-world theory research investigates how an individual's world-view influences his/her behavior when confronted with injustice. The purpose of the present study was to examine the utility of multiple continual physiological measurements as predictors of just-world motivated behavior such as immanent justice reasoning (IJR) in a replication of Callan, Ellard, and Nicol's (2006) study. Participants (N=109) were assigned to one of two narrative groups - either an adulterous scenario or a non-adulterous scenario. It was hypothesized that levels of IJR would be higher in the justice-threat than the non-threat condition, and that measures of physiological arousal would predict IJR. Results show that significantly higher responses of IJR were observed during the non-adulterous condition. Additionally, physiological indicators of emotional arousal correctly predicted IJR. These results indicate that physiological measures are useful in assessing justice-threat scenarios, and further research should use such indicators in addition to self-report affect measures.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/598"],"dc:subject":["Justice","emotions","judgment","Psychology"],"dc:title":["Physiological measures differentiate distinct domains of immanent justice reasoning"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:16:57Z"}