Just-World Hypothesis

When the Second World War came to an end, the British took some German civilians around the Belsen concentration camp. But why they do this? To show them what their own soldiers had done during the war. It was reported that one of the civilians had said "What terrible criminals these prisoners must have been to receive such treatment." Not uttered by a guard, but by a civilian. The just-world hypothesis is a cognitive bias in which we as human beings try to make sense of a world that is unfortunately unjust. We like to believe noble acts lead to reward, and bad actions result in punishment. So when we see bad things happen to good people, and good to bad, there is a tendency to view such situations in a way that reduces this sense of guilt or discomfort.