Confirmatory Factor and Smallest Space Analyses on the Belief in a Just World Scale
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Confirmatory Factor and Smallest Space Analyses on the Belief in a Just World Scale Warren G. Harding1 · V. K. Kumar1 · Jasmin Tahmaseb McConatha1 Accepted: 13 October 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used on the Belief in a Just World Scale (BJW; Lucas, Zhdanova & Alexander in J Individ Diff 32:14–25, 2011) to test the replicability of its four-scale structure. Additionally, Guttman’s Smallest Space Analysis (SSA) was used to test the presence of two facets with each consisting of two elements: Type of Justice (Distributive and Procedural) and Locus of Attributions (Justice Beliefs for Self and Justice Beliefs for Others) in the BJW scale. Participants (n = 301) were university students and community members (recruited through local church and social media). The CFA revealed marginally acceptable support for the four-factor structure of the BJW. As hypothesized, the SSA provided evidence for the presence of two facets with two elements each as stated above. Consistent with earlier findings of Lucas et al. (J Individ Diff 32:14–25, 2011) and Lucas et al. (Political Psychol 35:775–793, 2014), the BJW subscales had positive significant correlations with each other and evidenced strong internal consistency reliabilities. Keywords Belief in just world · Confirmatory factor analysis · Smallest space analysis
Introduction The present study examined the structure of the Belief in a Just World Scale (Lucas, Zhdanova, & Alexander, 2011) using two analytical procedures: Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Smallest Space Analysis (SSA). The CFA allowed us to * Warren G. Harding [email protected] V. K. Kumar [email protected] Jasmin Tahmaseb McConatha [email protected] 1
West Chester University of Pennsylvania, West Chester, USA
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Social Justice Research
examine if the four-factor structure reported in earlier work was replicated in the present study, and the SSA allowed us to extend extant work by testing the existence of facets implied in the theoretical basis used in formulating the scale and its subscales by its developers. It was hoped that using two analytical procedures would help better understand the BJW’s scale structure than using one method alone.
Conceptualization and Measurement of Belief in a Just World Melvin Lerner (1980) first explicated the concept of belief in a just world (BJW) as a dispositional tendency to believe that the rewards and punishments people receive are just and deserved. It has also been conceptualized as a positive illusion or delusion to see the world as fair and just. Believing that the world is a just place can serve as a coping resource in everyday life as a way for people to normalize feelings of injustice experienced by themselves or others and to view the world as stable and orderly; such justification in turn may allow them to engage in long-term planning and self-regulated behaviors (Furnham, 2003; Kogut, 2011; Lerner & Miller, 1978; Lucas, Ru
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