“Out of fear we don’t widely accept the idea that bad things happen for uncontrollable reasons. How could that be? If it is true, we can’t make sense of it with our cognitive brains … And that is scary.”
Elisabeth Corey
A study published in the British journal of Social Psychology proposes that people expect suffering to result in a greater likelihood of attaining future rewards. This research was carried out by Dr. How Hwee Ong, Dr. Rob M. A. Nelissen and Dr. Ilja van Beest from the Department of Social Psychology at Tilburg University.
There are two primary theories for why people believe that suffering in the present will lead to fortuitous rewards in the future. The first is known as the “just-world maintenance” explanation. This explanation states that individuals often believe that they’re living in a world where people get what they deserve.
Thus, people who suffer unnecessarily will be compensated for the pain they’ve endured. In doing so, this will restore balance to a supposed just-world.
The alternative theory is known as the “virtuous suffering” explanation. This suggests that experiencing suffering can improve one’s moral character.
This belief has been highlighted in previous studies which suggest that committing self-punishment can make an individual appear increasingly moral. This explanation further suggests that the universe rewards these individuals for behaving morally.
The researchers hypothesized that individuals expect to be rewarded after experiencing suffering due to either the just-world maintenance explanation or the virtuous suffering explanation.
The researchers began their experiment by presenting participants with a vignette about a protagonist with a cleft lip. They either read that the protagonist wasn’t suffering (low suffering condition) or that he was experiencing a great deal of suffering (high suffering condition).
Next, they read that he had been entered into a draw to potentially receive free medical treatment for his cleft lip. Participants were asked to rate the likelihood that he would win this draw.
Contrary to expectation, the researchers didn’t find support for the virtuous suffering explanation. However, they did find that when the protagonist experienced greater levels of suffering, they were perceived to be more deserving of future rewards. This supports the just-world maintenance explanation.
The researchers further hypothesized that this effect would not be consistent if the suffering was caused by oneself. That’s because the suffering would be perceived as deserved and wouldn’t threaten any just-world beliefs.
To test this hypothesis, participants read a vignette about a university student majoring in French, who recently underwent a limb amputation.
Depending on the participants assigned condition, they either read that the student’s amputation was caused by another individual (other condition), caused by his own decision (self-condition) or was the result of random chance (stochastic condition). Participants in the control condition read that the student wasn’t suffering.
Participants also read that the student had applied to study abroad in France, but the program was nearly full and vacant spots were being awarded by a random draw. Participants were then asked to rate the likelihood that the student would win the draw.
The results revealed that participants thought the student was more likely to be rewarded if he was suffering, compared to the control condition where he wasn’t suffering. However, the student’s likelihood of being rewarded was much lower (equal to the control condition) if he caused his own amputation.
To recap, the researchers found support for the “just-world maintenance” explanation (i.e. the belief that the world is just and fair). Naturally, undeserving suffering would threaten this belief. Thus, people may expect suffering to be followed by fortuitous rewards as a way for people to maintain their belief about the existence of a just-world.