Abstract
Dispositional Sensitivity to Befallen Injustice (SBI) is proposed as a new construct. A self-report questionnaire with four types of indicators (frequency, intensity of anger, intrusiveness of thoughts, punitivity) was developed for measuring SBI. Using structural equation modeling and the general rationale of multitrait-multimethod analysis, the convergent and discriminant validity of this questionnaire was investigated vis-à-vis measures for Trait Anger, Anger In, Anger Out, and Frustration Tolerance as related constructs. Additionally, a meaningful pattern of correlations was obtained between SBI and Life Satisfaction, Centrality of Justice, Interpersonal Trust, and Need for Control. Finally, self-reported sensitivity to befallen injustice was found to predict cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions to unjust treatment in laboratory and natural settings several weeks later.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Ahadi, S., and Diener, E. (1989). Multiple determinants and effect size.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 56: 398–406.
Averill, J. R. (1982).Anger and Aggression. An Essay on Emotion, Springer New York.
Borkenau, P. (1986). Toward an understanding of trait interrelations: Acts as instances for several traits.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol., 51: 371–381.
Campbell, G. T., and Fiske, D. W. (1959). Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix.Psychol. Bull. 56: 81–105.
Christianson, S. A. (Ed.) (1992).The Handbook of Emotion and Memory: Research and Theory, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
Crosby, F. (1981).Relative Deprivation and Working Women, Oxford University Press, New York.
Crosby, F. (1984). Relative deprivation in organisational settings.Res. Organ. Behav. 6: 51–93.
Dalbert, C., Montada, L., and Schmitt, M. (1987). Glaube an eine gerechte Welt als Motiv: Validierungskorrelate zweier Skalen.Psychol. Beitr. 29: 596–615.
Dar, Y., and Resh, N. (1993). Exploring the multi-dimensional structure of sense of deprivation: The case of Israeli Junior High School students. Unpublished manuscript, The Hebrew University Jerusalem, Israel.
Deutsch, M. (1985).Distributive Justice, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
Dörner, D., and Stäudel, T. (1990). Emotion und Kognition. In Scherer, K. R. (ed.),Psychologie der Emotion, Hogrefe, Göttingen, Germany, pp. 293–344.
Furnham, A., and Procter, E. (1989). Belief in a just world: Review and critique of the individual difference literature.Br. J. Soc. Psychol. 28: 365–384.
Gordon, I. E. (1989).Theories of Visual Perception. Wiley, Chichester, England.
Higgins, E. T., and King, G. (1981). Accessibility of social constructs: Information-processing consequences of individual and contextual variability. In Cantor, N., and Kihlstrom, J. F. (eds.),Personality, Cognition, and Social Interaction, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, pp. 69–122.
Huseman, R. C., Hatfield, J. D., and Miles, E. W. (1985). Test for individual perceptions of job equity: Some preliminary findings.Percept. Motor Skills, 61: 1055–1064.
Josso, G. (1983). Fairness of individual rewards and fairness of the reward distribution: Specifying the inconsistency between the micro and macro principles of justice.Soc. Psychol. Quart. 46: 185–199.
Jöreskog, K. G., and Sörbom, D. (1988).Lisrel 7, SPSS-Inc, Chicago, IL.
Kammann, R. (1983). Objective circumstances, life satisfactions, and sense of well-being: Consistencies across time and place.N. Z. J. Psychol. 12: 14–22.
Klauer, T., and Filipp, S.-H. (1993).Trierer Skalen zur Krankheitsbewältigung (TSK). Hogrefe, Göttingen, Germany.
Klein, R., and Bierhoff, H.-W. (1988). Ungerechtgkeit: Eine neue Reaktionstypologie. In W. Schönpflug (ed.),Bericht über den 36. Kongreß der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie in Berlin 1988, Vol. 1, Hogrefe, Gottingen, Germany, p. 92.
Kordmann, P. (1991). Determinanten der Opferbeurteilung, University-of Trier Department of Psychology, Trier, Germany.
Krampen, G., Viebig, J., and Walter, W. (1982). Entwicklung einer Skala zur Erfassung dreier Aspekte von sozialem Vertrauen.Diagnostica 28: 242–247.
Lind, A. E., and Tyler, T. R. (1988).The Social Psychology of Procedural Justice, Plenum Press, New York.
Major, B., and Deaux, K. (1982). Individual differences in justice behavior. In Greenberg, J., and Cohen, R. L. (eds.),Equity and Justice in Social Behavior, Academic Press, New York, pp. 43–76.
Mikula, G. (1981). Concepts of distributive justice in allocation decisions: A review of research in German-speaking countries.German J. Psychol 5: 222–236.
Mikula, G. (1986). The experience of injustice: Towards a better understanding of its phemenology. In Bierhoff, H.-W., Cohen, R. L., and Greenberg, J. (eds.).Justice in Interpersonal Relations, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 103–124.
Mikula, G., Petri, B., and Tanzer, N. (1990). What people regard as unjust: Types and structues of everyday experiences of injustice.Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 20: 133–149.
Montada, L., and Schneider, A. (1990). Justice and emotional reactions to the disadvantaged.Soc. Justice Res. 3: 313–344.
Montada, L., Dalbert, C., and Schneider, A. (1990).Coping mit Problemen sozial schwacher Menschen. Ergebnisse der Längsschnittuntersuchung, University of Trier Department of Psychology, Trier, Germany.
Montada, L., Dalbert, C., Reichle, B., and Schmitt, M. (1986). Urteile über Gerechtigkeit, “Existentielle Schuld” und Strategien der Schuldabwehr. In Oser, F., Althof, W., and Garz, D. (eds.),Moralische Zugänge zum Menschen—Ungänge zum moralischen Menschen Peter Kindt Verlag, München, Germany, pp. 205–225.
Montada, L., Schmitt, M., and Dalbert, C. (1983),Existentielle Schuld: Rekrutierung der Untersuchungsstichprobe, Erhebungsinstrumente und Untersuchungsplan, University of Trier Department of Psychology, Trier, Germany.
Montada, L., Schmitt, M., and Dalbert, C. (1986). Thinking about justice and dealing with one's own privileges: A study of existential guilt. In Bierhoff, H.-W., Cohen, R. L., and Greenberg, J. (eds.),Justice in Social Relations, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 125–143.
Neumann, R. (1991).Sensibilität gegenüber erfahrener Ungerechtigkeit, University of Trier Department of Psychology, Trier, Germany.
Olweus, D. (1979). Stability of aggressive reaction patterns in males: A review.Psychol. Bull. 86: 852–875.
Plutchik, R. (1980).Emotion. A Psychoevolutionary Synthesis, Harper, New York.
Rime, B., Philippot, P., Boca, S., and Mesquita, B. (1992). Long-lasting cognitive and social consequences of emotion: Social sharing and rumination. In Stroebe, W., and Hewstone, M. (eds.),European Review of Social Psychology Vol. 3, Wiley, Chichester, England, pp. 225–258.
Rosenzweig, S. (1978).Aggressive Behavior and the Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration Study. Praeger, New York.
Rotter, J. B. (1967). A new scale for the measurement of interpersonal trust.J. Pers. 35: 651–665.
Rubin, Z. and Peplau, L. A. (1973). Belief in a just world and reactions to another's lot: A study of participants in the national draft lottery.J. Soc. Issues 29(4): 73–93.
Sabbagh, C., Dar, Y., and Resh, N. (1994). The structure of social justice judgements: Towards an integrative framework.Soc. Psychol. Quart. 57: 244–261.
Scherer, K. R., Wallbortt, H. G., and Summerfield, A. B. (eds.) (1986).Experiencing emotion: A Cross-Cultural Study, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.
Schmitt, M. and Mohiyeddini, C. (1995).Sensitivity to Befallen Injustice and Reactions to Unjust Treatment in the Laboratory and Real Life Disadvantages, University of Trier Department of Psychology, Trier, Germany.
Schmitt, M. and Mohiyeddini, C. (1995).Sensitivity to Befallen Injustice and Reactions to Unjust Treatment in the Laboratory and Real Life Disadvantages, University of Trier Department of Psychology, Trier, Germany.
Schmitt, M., Behner, R., Müller, L., and Montada, L. (1992).Werte, existentielle Schuld u Hilfsbereitschaft gegenüber Indios und landlosen Bauern in Paraguay, University of Trier Department of Psychology, Trier, Germany.
Schmitt, M., Neumann, R., and Montada, L. (1992).Sensitivity to Experienced Injustice: Structural Equation Measurement and Validation Models, University of Trier Department of Psychology, Trier, Germany.
Schneider, A., Meissner, A., Montada, L., and Reichle, B. (1987).Validierung von Selbstberichten über Fremdratings, University of Trier Department of Psychology, Trier, Germany.
Schwenkmezger, P. and Hodapp, V. (1989). Das State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI): Itemmetrische und faktorenanalytische Befunde und Untersuchungen zur KonstruktvaliditätTrierer Psychol. Berichte 16(1).
Schwinger, T. and Winterhoff-Spurk, P. (1984). Gleichheits- vs. Leistungsprinzip: Rasch-Skalen zur Messung dispositioneller Einstellungen zu zwei Prinzipien distributiver Gerechtigkeit.Diagnostica 30: 125–143.
Spielberger, C. D. (1988).State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory, Res. ed., PAR, Odessa, FL.
Törnblom, K. Y. (1992). The social psychology of distributive justice. In Scherer, K. (ed.),Justice: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K., pp. 175–236.
Wahner, U. (1986).Bewertungen der Gerechtigkeit in unterschiedlichen Kontexten: Personale Determinaten erlebter Verteilungs- und Verfahrensgerechtigkeit, University of Trier Department of Psychology, Trier, Germany.
Wicker, F. W., Payne, G. C., and Morgan, R. D. (1983). Participant descriptions of guilt and shame.Motiv. Emot. 7: 25–39.
Widaman, K. F. (1985). Hierarchically nested covariance structure models for multitrait-multimethod data.Appl. Psychol. Meas. 9: 1–26.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schmitt, M.J., Neumann, R. & Montada, L. Dispositional Sensitivity to Befallen Injustice. Soc Just Res 8, 385–407 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02334713
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02334713