Chapter 5 - Psychological Processes

Summary

Chapter 5 focuses on the psychology of the fair process effect. The chapter notes that although the effect is often there, it is important to study it in the context in which it is supposed to appear. After all, the relevance of various criteria and psychological processes may vary across different contexts and the different people present in those contexts. The chapter also notes that it is important to specify which types of dependent variables, such as trust or protest intentions, are most likely to be affected by the fair process effect under consideration. Relevant moderators (such as personal uncertainty) and mediators (such as perceived legitimacy) are discussed as well. The chapter ends with discussing the systemic aspects that are important when understanding the functioning of the fair process effect and how to prevent the effect from being misused in system-justifying ways.