It is the belief that when bad things happen to someone *else*, it is because they did something to deserve it.
You will see this manifest in terms of assault victims did something to provoke their attacker, homeless or impoverished are so because they are lazy, and “what goes around comes around.”
It also helps soothe the mind in terms of anxiety in uncertainty. Example: “If misfortune befell *them* it must be because they deserve it, so *I* will do everything right so misfortune does not befall *me*.”
