The Psychology Book (76 page)

brain), and distress can be

on mental illness, counseling,

the least of our power, we need

remedied through repairing these

and how to improve schools.

relationships without recourse

He is the recipient of many

to psychiatric drugs. He points

awards, including the “A

toward the basic human need for

Legend in Counseling Award”

power, which we try to satisfy by

and the Master Therapist

attempting to control other people.

designation by the American

In fact, the only thing that we can

Psychiatric Association.

Improving our relationships

control is the way we behave and

is improving our

think; we cannot control others.

Key works

mental health.

Trying to, he says, shows a lack of

1965
Reality Therapy

William Glasser

respect for others and is the cause

1969
Schools Without Failure

of unhappiness. Choice Theory is

1998
Choice Theory

a self-control psychology designed

2003
Warning: Psychiatry

to counteract this tendency and

Can be Hazardous to your

to help us find happiness within

Mental Health

our relationships. ■

242

WE BELIEVE PEOPLE

GET WHAT THEY

DESERVE

MELVIN LERNER (1929– )

IN CONTEXT

People want

…where “bad” things

APPROACH

to believe that they

only happen to

Attribution theory

live in a safe,

“bad” people, and

stable, and

only “good” things

BEFORE

orderly world
…

happen to “good” people.

1958
Austrian psychologist

Fritz Heider investigates the

attribution process, or how

people judge the factors that

influence a situation.

People operate under

1965

People blame the
victims

American psychologists

the assumption that

of misfortune

Edward E. Jones and Keith

“people get what they

in order to protect

Davis argue that the goal of

deserve” and deserve

themselves from

attribution is to discover how

what they get.

feeling
vulnerable
.

behavior and intention reveal a

person’s basic nature.

AFTER

1971
US sociologist William

that places undue importance on

J. Ryan coins the phrase

P
eople are most comfortable

when they have a sense of

the supposed character traits of

“victim blaming,” exposing

control over their lives. We

the people involved rather than

how it is used to justify racism

need to believe that we live in a

on the actual facts of a situation.

and social injustice.

world where the good are rewarded

If someone is suffering or being

1975
American psychologists

and the bad are punished, and this

punished, we find it easier to

Zick Rubin and Letitia Peplau

contributes significantly to our

believe that that person must have

sense that it is possible to predict,

done something to deserve such

find that firm believers in a

guide, and ultimately control

treatment. The Just-World theory

“Just World” tend to be more

events. This “Just-World hypothesis”

becomes a comforting rationalization

authoritarian, more religious,

is a tendency to believe that

of seemingly inexplicable events,

and more admiring of existing

“people get what they deserve.”

and stops the world from appearing

social and political institutions.

But, according to Melvin Lerner,

chaotic or random. It also allows

this is a dangerous misconception

people to believe that as long as

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 243

See also:
Dorothy Rowe 154 ■ Elizabeth Loftus 202–07

live in a just world; and so children

the victim to those assessing them

grow into adults with this belief

can affect whether or not people are

firmly in place.

held responsible for their misfortune.

Lerner’s hypothesis became the

Victim-blaming

foundation of important research

In a 1965 study, Lerner found

into social justice. It also sparked

that students who were told that a

debate over the effects of a Just-

fellow student had won the lottery

World approach to life. Does it help

rationalized this event by believing

people stand up to difficulties? It

that the winner must have worked

may instead stimulate the feeling

harder than his peers. It seems that

that any wrongdoing, however

belief in a Just World allows people

minor or unintentional, leads to

to adjust the facts of a situation.

disaster—a belief that Australian

This can be especially damaging

psychologist Dorothy Rowe has

Homelessness
, like may other social

when applied to the way we might

suggested can lead to an increased

problems, is much easier to tolerate

view victims of crime or abuse. In

susceptibility to depression. ■

or be indifferent to, if you believe that

people are ultimately responsible for

rape cases, for example, it is often

their own misfortunes.

suggested that the female victim

was “asking for it” because she

they are “good,” only “good” things

wore a short skirt or was flirtatious,

will happen to them, generating

effectively absolving the perpetrator

a false sense of safety and control.

of responsibility and placing it

In his book,
The Belief in a Just

in the hands of the victim. By

People need to believe they

World
, Lerner argued that we ask

blaming the victim, outsiders also

live in a Just World.

children to “be good” and promise

protect their own sense of safety.

Melvin Lerner

them that in return for effectively

Lerner did emphasize, however,

putting their natural impulses and

that belief in a Just World does not

desires to one side, they will be

always lead to victim-blaming. The

rewarded in the future. For this

seeming innocence, attractiveness,

contract to be fulfilled, we must

status, and degree of similarity of

Melvin Lerner

A pioneer of the psychological

Lerner was editor of the journal

study of justice, Melvin Lerner

Social Justice Research
, and

studied social psychology at New

in 2008 was given a Lifetime

York University, receiving his

Achievement Award by the

doctorate in 1957. He then moved

International Society for Justice

to Stanford University, California,

Research. He is a visiting scholar

where he studied for his post-

at Florida Atlantic University.

doctorate in clinical psychology.

From 1970 to 1994, Lerner

Key works

taught social psychology at the

University of Waterloo in Canada.

1980
The Belief in a Just World:

He has also lectured at a number

A Fundamental Delusion

of universities in the US and

1981
The Justice Motive in

Europe, including the University of

Social Behavior: Adapting to

California, Washington University,

Times of Scarcity and Change

and the universities of Utrecht and

1996
Current Concerns about

Leiden in the Netherlands.

Social Justice

244

PEOPLE WHO DO

CRAZY THINGS ARE NOT

NECESSARILY CRAZY

ELLIOT ARONSON (1932– )

psychological imbalance on the

IN CONTEXT

part of the perpetrator. Aronson,

I
n his 1972 book,
The Social

Animal
, Elliot Aronson puts

forward “Aronson’s First Law:”

however, argues that although

APPROACH

people who do crazy things are not

psychotic people certainly exist,

Attitude change

necessarily crazy. The “crazy things”

even people who are generally

BEFORE

he refers to include acts of violence,

psychologically healthy can be

1956
Social psychologist Leon

cruelty, or deep prejudice—acts so

driven to such extremes of human

Festinger states his theory of

extreme that they seem to reflect a

behavior that they appear insane. It

cognitive dissonance, which

posits that having inconsistent

beliefs causes uncomfortable

psychological tension.

In some situations, sane people do crazy things.

1968
The My Lai Massacre

of civilians in Vietnam takes

place, possibly because US

soldiers dehumanized victims

If we are unaware of the
social circumstances

to reduce cognitive dissonance.

that prompted their actions…

AFTER

1978
Elliot Aronson devises

the Jigsaw method of learning,

involving highly interdependent

…we are tempted to conclude that they

small-group learning, to reduce

are caused by a
deficiency in character

prejudice and violence at school.

or
insanity
.

1980s
Psychologists argue that

dissonance experiments may

not reflect real attitude changes,

but a desire to seem consistent

and hence socially acceptable.

We must remember that people who do

crazy things are not necessarily crazy.