Through the looking glass: Focusing on long‐term goals increases immanent justice reasoning

<jats:p>Immanent justice reasoning involves causally attributing a negative event to someone's prior moral failings, even when such a causal connection is physically implausible. This study examined the degree to which immanent justice represents a form of motivated reasoning in the service of satisfying the need to believe in a just world. Drawing on a manipulation that has been shown to activate justice motivation<jats:bold>,</jats:bold> participants causally attributed a freak accident to a man's prior immoral (vs. moral) behaviour to a greater extent when they first focused on their long‐term (vs. short‐term) goals. These findings highlight the important function believing in a just world plays in self‐regulatory processes by implicating the self in immanent justice reasoning about fluke events in the lives of others.</jats:p>