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Just-World Fallacy

Written by the Fiveable Content Team โ€ข Last updated August 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 examโ€ขWritten by the Fiveable Content Team โ€ข Last updated August 2025

Definition

The just-world fallacy is the cognitive bias that assumes people get what they deserve and deserve what they get, leading to the belief that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people.

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