Can happy mood reduce the just world bias? Affective influences on blaming the victim

► Positive mood decreased and negative mood increased people's motivation to blame innocent victims. ► Happy participants attributed more responsibility, and dissociated more from innocent victims they read about. ► In-group victims were blamed more than out-group victims. ► Positive mood functioned as a resource enabling people to cope with threatening information about the misfortune of others without resorting to victim blaming.