[5] Lerner is most recognized for the Just-world phenomenon, published in "The Belief in a Just World: A Fundamental Delusion" (1980), and for being co-editor of the first volume devoted to the "Justice Motive" in 1981.
He began studying justice beliefs and the just world fallacy while exploring the mechanisms behind negative social and societal interactions.
During his clinical training as a psychologist, he observed the treatment of mentally ill persons by the health care practitioners with whom he worked.
[8] He was also surprised at hearing his students derogate the poor, seemingly oblivious to the structural forces that contribute to poverty.
[10] His desire to understand the processes that caused these phenomena led Lerner to conduct his first experiments on what is now called the just world fallacy.