Management and Organizations Tenure Track Faculty Database
Management and Organizations
Fuqua School of Business
Duke University

 HOME > Fuqua > Management > Tenure Track Faculty    Search Help Login pdf version printable version 

Publications [#273272] of Aaron C. Kay

Journal Articles

  1. Callan, MJ; Kay, AC; Davidenko, N; Ellard, JH, The effects of justice motivation on memory for self- and other-relevant events, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, vol. 45 no. 4 (July, 2009), pp. 614-623, Elsevier BV, ISSN 0022-1031 [doi]
    (last updated on 2024/03/27)

    Abstract:
    We examined whether people might distort and selectively remember the past in ways that enable them to sustain a belief in a just world (BJW; Lerner, M. J. (1980). The belief in a just world: A fundamental delusion. New York: Plenum Press). In Study 1, recall of a lottery prize reflected participants' justice concerns, such that the average lottery amount recalled was lowest when a "bad" versus "good" person won. In Study 2, an unrelated experience of just world threat (versus affirmation) enhanced biased recall of the lottery prize when the winner was undeserving. In Study 3, participants who experienced a fortuitous bad break selectively remembered more bad deeds from their recent past, whereas participants who experienced a good break selectively remembered more good deeds. Study 4 demonstrates that such selective memory biases specifically serve to portray chance outcomes as more fair. Taken together, these findings offer support for the notion that reconstructing and selectively recalling the past can serve to sustain a BJW. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Duke University * Management * Faculty * Affiliated * Staff * Reload * Login