Just Deserts: African American Judgments of Justice in Stories of Varying Cultural Relevance

Abstract

Several standard stories used to examine beliefs in justice in other (cross-national) settings were also used in this study. Additional stories were created to examine potential hypothesized differences in this population due to the nature of the original stimulus stories. The researchers also examined ways in which the participants made their decisions. Results suggest that determinations of justice do, indeed, have some fairly standard features, but that population- specific issues also may affect judgments. These contexting factors suggest further studies to help to account for the variability in justice judgments. Important underlying dynamics may be uncov ered by future studies focusing on the ways that participants arrive at their judgments.

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