Temporal distance as a determinant of just world strategy

The authors investigated the impact of temporal distance on just world maintenance strategy. Across four studies, it was found that participants blamed the victim's actions more when victimization was temporally near (i.e., occurred within the last year, seemed to have occurred just yesterday, focused on how the abuse occurred). In contrast, perceivers blamed the victim's character more and expected the victim to find benefits for his or her suffering more when victimization was temporally distant (i.e., occurred five years ago, seemed to have occurred long ago, focused on why the abuse occurred). The effects of temporal distance on just world maintenance strategy were only found when just world threat was high. Implications for the study of just world theory and construal level theory are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.