{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.024354243542435424, 'fraction_numerical': 0.005904059040590406, 'mean_word_length': 5.232183908045977, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Attraction to a Beneficient Victim: Balance Theory or "The Just World"?

When a person suffers and thereby spares another person from having to undergo discomfort, is the victim of suffering liked more when the degree of suffering is mild or intense? Also, is this beneficient victim of suffering liked more when the compensation for suffering is great or small? Balance theory (Heider, 1958) and the notion of a &dquo;just world&dquo; (Lerner, 1965) Make competing predictions about this situation. According to balance theory, we tend to like someone who intentionally benefits. Additionally, the greater the benefit the greater the attraction should be. In general, a beneficient victim should be most liked when he or she suffers greatly in order to spare us discomfort. More specifically, greater attraction should be found for a voluntary victim who receives no compensation compared to one who is compensated since compensation provides external justification for the suffering. The notion of a just world makes completely opposity predictions. According to Lerner, people have a need to believe that the world is just a predictable place where everyone gets what he deserves. In a just worlk, victimization must be accounted for. Lerner has found that an observer accounts for a victim’s suffering by perceiving the victim to be an undeaireable. Lemer (1971) has indicated that when the suffering leads to compensation, the victim should be more attractive than if the victim goes uncompensated. Neither theory offers clear predictions of attractiveness ratings when a person suffers because of chance considerations. According to balanee theory, when fate operates, behavior does not involve personal causation and therefore no inferences about the victim’s attractiveness can be made, regardless of compensation and intensity of suffering. With regard to a need to believe in a just world, the ambiguous conditions of fate would seem to promote a tendency to perceive the victim as being undesireable (and thus, less attractive) in order to account for his or her suggering. However, previous research on the just world (Lerner and Matthews, 1967) found the unwilling victim of fate to be positively evaluated. Lerner labeled this effect &dquo;gratitude&dquo;, even though intentionality was not directly involved. If this effect does result from something like gratitude, it should be attenuated by compensation ; since compensation offers an external incentive to which the suffering may be attributed and thereby removes the opportunity for gratitude to develop. Thus, based on previous findings, a compensated victim of fate is expected to be less attractive than an uncompensated victim of fate.