The just-world theory (Lerner, 1980) assumes that people want to believe that they live in a world where good things happen to good people and bad things only to bad ones and where therefore everyone harvests what they sow (see also Furnham, 2003; Dalbert, 2009; Hafer and Sutton, 2016).

The following statement best describes the just world hypothesis: People deserve what happens to them, whether good or bad. This answer has been confirmed as correct and helpful.

Scapegoat theory refers to the tendency to blame someone else for one’s own problems, a process that often results in feelings of prejudice toward the person or group that one is blaming. Scapegoating serves as an opportunity to explain failure or misdeeds, while maintaining one’s positive self-image.

Why Do People Blame Victims Cruelly this term is applied, in some instances, to murder victims. In the Invulnerability Theory blaming the victim is a way of distancing oneself from an unpleasant occurrence and thereby confirming one’s own invulnerability.

why are people in independent cultures more likely to commit the fundamental attribution error than people in interdependent cultures? Those with interdependent self-concepts see the self as being embedded in and influenced by a situation and so also see others as being influenced by situations.

In contrast, people from a collectivistic culture, that is, a culture that focuses on communal relationships with others, such as family, friends, and community ([link]), are less likely to commit the fundamental attribution error (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Triandis, 2001).

Social class does not relate to causal attribution. Lower- or working-class individuals make attributions similar to those from interdependent cultures.