What belief leads to blaming victims for inexplicable injustices?

• A. Just-World Phenomenon
• B. Fundamental Attribution Error
• C. Confirmation Bias
• D. Optimism Bias

Answer: (A)

Just-world belief is the idea that the world is fair and that people get what they deserve, so misfortune is viewed as deserved punishment and good fortune as deserved reward. When inexplicable injustices occur, people may blame the victim because accepting that bad things happen randomly would threaten the sense that the world is just. Victim-blaming helps preserve the belief that outcomes reflect moral desert rather than chaos or injustice. This differs from other biases: fundamental attribution error focuses on attributing behavior to internal dispositions rather than circumstances, confirmation bias favors information that confirms preconceptions, and optimism bias underestimates the likelihood of negative events.