The view that the environment, surroundings and societies are fair and follow a set order, where people typically receive what is rightfully theirs.
This term was coined by Melvin Lerner (1980) following a series of experiments he conducted in 1966, observing that people could justify the suffering of seemingly innocent people. There are other ways of describing this phenomenon. These include just world fallacy, just world theory, just world belief and fair world hypothesis – among others.
The just world hypothesis bears close resemblance to phenomena like veridical judgment and guilt and discomfort reduction. Some scholars say that these terms are the same in effect with the just world hypothesis but subsequent studies by Lerner (1970; 1978) challenged these claims.
Reference
Lerner, M. J. (1970). The desire for justice and reactions to victims. Altruism and helping behavior, 205, 229.
Lerner, M. J., & Miller, D. T. (1978). Just world research and the attribution process: Looking back and ahead. Psychological bulletin, 85(5), 1030.
Lerner, M. J. (1980). The belief in a just world. In The belief in a just world: A fundamental delusion (pp. 9-30). Boston, MA: Springer US.