Perceived Deservingness of Outcomes as a Function of Religious Fundamentalism and Target Responsibility

We examined the perception of deserved outcomes associated with religious fundamentalism (RF). Interviews with videotaped targets varied in target's religiosity, responsibility, and outcome valence (good/bad). Participants either low (LF) or high (HF) on RF formulated an impression of how deserving a target was for a situational outcome. Participants low in RF held targets to be less deserving of a bad outcome than a good one; the HF group showed this to a lesser degree. HFs believed the target was more deserving of a bad outcome than did LFs, even when the target was not responsible for the outcome. Religious fundamentalism is related to attributing greater deservingness of bad outcomes, possibly because of a greater belief in a just world.