Sensitivity to befallen injustice and reactions to unfair treatment in the laboratory

Investigates the construct validity of a self-report questionnaire for dispositional sensitivity to befallen injustice (SBI). At three occasions of measurement, the four indicators of SBI with varying types of unfair situations were examined: (1) frequency of perceived injustice, (2) intensity of anger, (3) intrusiveness/perseverance of thoughts about the unjust event, and (4) punitivity. At Occasion 1, 171 students completed questionnaires for measuring SBI, trait anger, anger in, anger out, anger control, self-assertiveness, belief in a just world, and attitudes toward principles of distributive justice. Two months later at Occasion 2, 75 of the original subjects were treated unfairly in a laboratory situation that involved competition and achievement behavior. At Occasion 3 four weeks later, 39 subjects evaluated the unfair treatment in retrospect. All three occasions were presented as independent studies; the subjects perceived no connection between them. This study provides evidence that SBI is a trait and that its strongest explanatory power regards immediate and delayed cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions to unjust treatment in the laboratory.