Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

submittedVersion

Publication Date

1-2013

Abstract

People's just world beliefs are related to how they feel and behave towards others: the stronger people hold beliefs that the world treats them fairly, the more they feel and act pro-socially towards others. It is conceivable, therefore, that pro-social feelings and behaviours towards others can strengthen people's personal belief in a just world, especially when people expect these positive feelings to be returned. Because mimicry enhances pro-social feelings towards others, we argue that mimicry may strengthen peoples’ personal just world beliefs via positive feelings for the mimicked person and the expectation that these positive feelings are returned. Moreover, we expect these effects to be more pronounced for men because men have stronger reciprocity beliefs than women. The results of three studies supported this line of reasoning, showing that mimicry made men believe more strongly that the world is personally just to them. Further support for our line of reasoning was obtained by positive feelings for the (non)mimicked person (Study 2) and reciprocity beliefs (Study 3) mediating the effects. Taken together, the findings suggest that mimicry makes men view the world as more just.

Keywords

justice sensitivity, self, distinction, reciprocity, moderation, mediation, model

Discipline

Organizational Behavior and Theory | Social Psychology

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

British Journal of Social Psychology

Volume

52

Issue

3

First Page

397

Last Page

411

ISSN

0144-6665

Identifier

10.1111/j.2044-8309.2011.02084.x

Publisher

Wiley: 12 months

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8309.2011.02084.x

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