A Cross-Cultural Study of Justice Sensitivity and Its Consequences for Cooperation

Abstract

In Western samples, individuals differ systematically in the importance they assign to matters of justice and injustice, and dispositional Justice Sensitivity can be differentiated according to the perspectives of victim, observer, beneficiary, and perpetrator. In a cross-cultural comparison between the Philippines, Germany, and Australia ( N = 677 students), we investigated whether Justice Sensitivity can be equivalently described by these four perspectives, whether measurement instruments have invariant psychometric properties, and whether the psychological relevance of the Justice Sensitivity perspectives for cooperation behavior differs between these cultural contexts. The results of multigroup confirmatory factor analyses support weak measurement invariance and invariant associations between Justice Sensitivity perspectives and trust game decisions. Across cultures, victim sensitivity predicted reluctance to cooperate under threat of exploitation, and observer, beneficiary, and perpetrator sensitivities predicted cooperation under temptation. Our study extends insight into Justice Sensitivity to underresearched cultural contexts of urban and rural Philippines.

Justice Sensitivity in Intergroup Contexts: A Theoretical Framework

“…In a recent study with a Japanese sample, victim sensitivity was associated with reluctance to volunteer for a common good, mediated by angry anticipation of being the only volunteer (Tham et al, 2019). In line with earlier findings from Western samples (e.g., Gollwitzer & Rothmund, 2011;Maltese et al, 2016), Baumert et al (2020) also recently found that victim sensitivity predicted reduced cooperation under threat of exploitation in samples from the Philippines. Moving beyond anonymous interactions, in close interpersonal relationships, victim-sensitive persons were found to tend toward mistrustful interpretations of their partners' attempts at reconciliation after conflict, and a reluctance to forgive, coupled with intentions of revenge and legitimizing thoughts (Gerlach et al, 2012).…”

“…Empirical studies have highlighted the prosocial tendencies involved in beneficiary and perpetrator sensitivities and their underlying cognitive, emotional, and motivational processes. For instance, even under situational circumstances that tempted participants to behave egoistically, high (vs. low) beneficiary or perpetrator-sensitive individuals were more likely to share equally in dictator game settings (Lotz et al, 2013* 1 ) and trust game settings (Baumert et al, 2020), and contributed more to a public good (Schlösser et al, 2018a*). Moreover, the prospect of being advantaged by fate compared to an anonymous interaction partner resulted in anticipated negative emotions for individuals high in beneficiary or perpetrator sensitivity and motivated solidarity with the disadvantaged partner (Stavrova & Schlösser, 2015*).…”

“…Rothschild and Keefer (2018) showed that the effects of observer sensitivity on moral outrage over a company's mistreatment of their employees and calls for retribution persisted, independently of the level of guilt that participants experienced, and were most pronounced after participants had affirmed their moral identity. In addition to how observer sensitivity shapes reactions to injustices committed by others, it has been found to be also a predictor of own adherence to fairness norms, including enhanced sharing (Baumert et al, 2014b(Baumert et al, , 2020, consistent contribution to public goods (Schlösser et al, 2018a*), and preferences for equal distributions over own advantages (Schlösser et al, 2018b*).…”

Sensitivity to Injustice of Politicians and Voters

“…This manifests in a greater concern with preventing disadvantages to oneself and less concern about others being treated unfairly. Invariantly across different cultural contexts, people with high victim sensitivity refuse to cooperate if they fear being exploited (Baumert et al, 2020). People with high victim sensitivity tend to pursue selfish rather than prosocial goals (Beierlein et al, 2013), they should be less motivated to become politically engaged.…”

Stockpiling during the COVID-19 pandemic as a real-life social dilemma: A person-situation perspective

“…Victim Sensitivity often predicts less prosocial behavior (Fetchenhauer & Huang, 2004;Gollwitzer et al, 2005), but victim sensitive individuals are not per se uncooperative or selfish. Rather, their willingness to cooperate is particularly low when they fear being exploited (Baumert et al, 2020). The notion that Victim Sensitivity involves a fear of being exploited also lies at the heart of the sensitivity to mean intentions (SeMi) model (Gollwitzer & Rothmund, 2009;Gollwitzer et al, 2013).…”