Justice and Self-Interest

Two Fundamental Motives

Melvin J. Lerner, Susan Clayton

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781107002333
• eBook ISBN: 9781139065689
• Topic: Psicología
• Subtopic: Psicología social

This volume argues that the commitment to justice is a fundamental motive and that, although it is typically portrayed as serving self-interest, it sometimes takes priority over self-interest. To make this case, the authors discuss the way justice emerges as a personal contract in children's development; review a wide range of research studying the influences of the justice motive on evaluative, emotional and behavioral responses; and detail common experiences that illustrate the impact of the justice motive. Through an extensive critique of the research on which some alternative models of justice are based, the authors present a model that describes the ways in which motives of justice and self-interest are integrated in people's lives. They close with a discussion of some positive and negative consequences of the commitment to justice.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Preface
• 1 Contesting the Primacy of Self-Interest
• 2 Why Does Justice Matter? The Development of a Personal Contract
• 3 Commitment to Justice: The Initial Primary Automatic Reaction
• 4 Explaining the Myth of Self-Interest
• 5 Defining the Justice Motive: Reintegrating Procedural and Distributive Justice
• 6 How People Assess Deservingness and Justice: The Role of Social Norms
• 7 Integrating Justice and Self-Interest: A Tentative Model
• 8 Maintaining the Commitment to Justice in a Complex World
• 9 Bringing It Closer to Home: Justice in Another “American Tragedy”
• 10 Emotional Aftereffects: Some Negative Consequences and Thoughts on How to Avoid Them
• References
• Author Index
• Subject Index