Goldstone Research Unit
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
2012
Publication Source
Journal of Cognition and Culture
Volume
12
Issue
1-2
Start Page
67
Last Page
80
DOI
10.1163/156853712X633938
Abstract
The belief in immanent justice is the expectation that the universe is designed to ensure that evil is punished and virtue rewarded. What makes this belief so ‘natural’? Here, we suggest that this intuition of immanent justice derives from our evolved sense of fairness. In cases where a misdeed is followed by a misfortune, our sense of fairness construes the misfortune as a way to compensate for the misdeed. To test this hypothesis, we designed a set of studies in which we show that people who do not believe in immanent justice are nonetheless implicitly influenced by intuitions of immanent justice. Strikingly, this effect disappears when the misfortune is disproportionate compared to the misdeed: In this case, justice is not restored and participants lose the intuition of immanent justice. Following recent theories of religion, we suggest that this intuition contributes to the cultural success of beliefs in immanent justice.
Keywords
cultural beliefs, religion, Immanent justice, morality, fairness
Recommended Citation
Baumard, N., & Chevallier, C. (2012). What Goes Around Comes Around: The Evolutionary Roots of the Belief in Immanent Justice. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 12 (1-2), 67-80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156853712X633938
Date Posted: 11 March 2015
This document has been peer reviewed.