Seeing victims through the lens of belief in a just world: Evidence from the reverse correlation method

Abstract Victim blaming is a significant barrier to justice for survivors of interpersonal violence. Belief in a just world (BJW), the belief that people generally get what they deserve, is a key driver of this problem. Using the reverse correlation method, we examined associations among BJW, implicit mental representations and explicit victim blaming. Generation‐phase participants ( N = 149) completed measures of four BJW dimensions (personal, general, immanent and ultimate) and explicit victim blaming, then generated implicit mental representations of victims using the reverse correlation method. Evaluation‐phase participants ( N = 249) evaluated the trait ratings of the classification images. Personal and general BJW were associated with implicit mental representations rated lower in competence, warmth and attractiveness. Immanent BJW was associated with lower warmth. Ultimate BJW showed no associations with implicit mental representations. Notably, BJW was not associated with explicit victim blaming. Implicit mental representations were not associated with explicit victim blaming. These findings reveal a multilevel dissociation in which BJW is associated with implicit mental representations but not explicit victim blaming, suggesting that justice beliefs operate at implicit levels of processing that do not necessarily manifest in explicit judgements. This extends just world theory beyond its traditional focus on explicit victim blaming.