The belief in a just world (BJW) is the belief that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get. The theory and research findings suggest that believing the world is fair to “me” (personal BJW or PBJW) is associated with positive psychological functioning, whereas believing that the world is fair to people in general (general BJW or GBJW) may not. Against a backdrop of mixed findings in samples recruited in Asian countries, we conducted two studies in Thailand (N = 177 and N = 175) and one in the UK (N = 345). Study 1 examined the relationships between PBJW, GBJW, life satisfaction, and depression in Thailand; Study 2 also included Karma and was conducted in Thailand and the UK. In both studies, PBJW uniquely predicted well-being. When controlling for BJW, belief in Karma positively predicted life satisfaction and depression only in the UK sample. In addition, Karma was uniquely predicted by GBJW but more strongly so in Thailand. Furthermore, within both samples, individuals endorsed PBJW more strongly than GBJW; comparing across samples, PBJW was more strongly endorsed in the UK than Thailand, whereas GBJW was more strongly endorsed in Thailand than the UK. However, sample nationality did not moderate associations between BJW, Karma and well-being. Results support the cultural generality of just world theory and the psychological priority of PBJW and indicate that the cultural concept of Karma does not explain relationships between just-world beliefs and well-being.

公正世界的信念 (BJW) 是相信人们得到他们应得的，也应该得到他们得到的。理论和研究结果表明，相信世界对“我”（个人 BJW 或 PBJW）公平与积极的心理功能相关，而相信世界对一般人（一般 BJW 或 GBJW）可能不公平。在亚洲国家招募的样本中发现混合结果的背景下，我们在泰国进行了两项研究（N  = 177 和N  = 175），在英国进行了一项研究（N = 345)。研究 1 考察了泰国的 PBJW、GBJW、生活满意度和抑郁症之间的关系；研究 2 还包括 Karma，并在泰国和英国进行。在这两项研究中，PBJW 唯一地预测了幸福感。在控制 BJW 时，仅在英国样本中，对业力的信念正向预测生活满意度和抑郁。此外，GBJW 对 Karma 进行了独特的预测，但在泰国的预测更为强烈。此外，在这两个样本中，个人对 PBJW 的认可程度高于 GBJW；跨样本比较，PBJW 在英国比泰国更受认可，而 GBJW 在泰国比英国更受认可。然而，样本国籍并没有缓和 BJW、业力和幸福感之间的关联。