In the example above Blue hears Yellow's story of being robbed and beaten up and becomes anxious. When Yellow explains that he was walking in the park at night when he got robbed, Blue's anxiety decreases. Blue does not walk through the park at night, so he believes that by avoiding this behaviour he is at low risk of the negative outcome of being robbed. Furthermore, Blue now blames Yellow for putting himself at risk and getting robbed.
Just-World Phenomenon
The just-world phenomenon is a human tendency to believe that the world is fair and that people “generally get what they deserve” (Furnham, 2003). In other words, people tend to think that the world is stable and orderly. This gives us the perception that we are at low risk of negative outcomes, as long as we do nothing to deserve them (Lerner & Miller, 1978). To help us maintain this perception, people tend to believe that when negative things occur to another, it was a direct consequence of that individual’s actions (Lerner & Miller, 1978). This is a harmful way of thinking because it can cause us to “blame the victim” (Lerner & Miller, 1978).
An example of the representitaveness heuristic.
Furnham, A. (2003). Belief in a just world: Research progress over the past decade. Personality and Individual Differences, 34(5), 795-817.
Lerner, M. J., & Miller, D. T. (1978). Just world research and the attribution process: Looking back and ahead. Psychological Bulletin, 85(5), 1030-1051.
Social Beliefs and Judgments