Abstract
The study challenges the commonly assumed symmetry between justice judgments that refer to the distribution of positive and negative outcomes. Based on equity and multiprinciple approaches, and particularly on the theory of framing choices, we propose a conceptual framework for analyzing the dynamics of relations between positive and negative justice judgments. According to this framework, negative judgments are more generalized (simple) and more emphatic than are positive judgments. Data analysis was based on responses of 240 German adults to 39 justice judgment items that were subjected to a Similarity Space Analysis (SSA). The analysis corroborated the hypothesis when the type of resource to be distributed was held constant. Thus, the findings may reflect the primacy and high emotional intensity of negative experiences. They also suggest that, without specification of the distributed resource, this facet of justice judgments (sign of outcome distribution) is devoid of content.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 381-396 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Social Justice Research |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1998 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Preparation of this paper was partially supported by the NCJW Institute for Innovation in Education at the Hebrew University, the Israel Foundations Trustees, and the Center for Human Rights in Israel. We are grateful to Yechezkel Dar for his helpful comments and to Helene Hogri for her valuable editorial assistance. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the VIth Biennial Meeting of the International Network for Social Justice Research, Potsdam, Germany, July 1997, and at the Sixth International Facet Theory Conference, Liverpool, United Kingdom, September 1997.
Keywords
- Framing
- Justice
- Outcome valence
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Anthropology
- Sociology and Political Science
- Law