Belief in a just world, social influence and illness attributions: evidence of a just world boomerang effect.

Full Abstract

Characteristics of individuals and illnesses can both influence receptivity to preventative health messages. We examined whether receptivity to health messages depends on interactions between illness characteristics and dispositional concern for justice. Participants considered the preventability of six illnesses after exposure to a message that manipulated personal responsibility for illness. Paradoxically, participants with strong just world beliefs reported greater preventability for less preventable illnesses, such as brain cancer, when exposed to an unpreventable health message. In parallel, participants with low justice beliefs reported less preventability for lung cancer when exposed to a preventable message. This just world boomerang effect suggests that individual dispositions and illness characteristics can interact in ways that can produce either acquiescence or opposition to persuasive health messages.

Author information

Author/s: Lucas, Todd (T); Alexander, Sheldon (S); Firestone, Ira (I); Lebreton, James M (JM);

Affiliation: Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA. tlucas(-atsign-)med.wayne.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Journal of health psychology (J Health Psychol), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Mar; vol 14 (issue 2) : pp 258-66

Dates: Created 2009/02/24; Completed 2009/06/30;

PMID: 19237493, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 6/30/2009, IMS Date: 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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