A common fact of living in a complex society is the prevalence of instances in which people perceive themselves as well as others to be denied what they deserve, or to suffer unjustly. These implicit, and often explicit, threats to their commitment to justice require people to defuse and manage the incessant input of new instances in ways that enable them to continue functioning. How do they do this? Typically, additional processes come into play suggesting the appearance of a third stage: Time 3.

Given the human cognitive equipment it is no surprise that most people, certainly by adulthood, acquire a repertoire of prepared responses to familiar forms of injustice. Although they may have other functions as well, these responses appear to be designed to denature threats to people's confidence that they live in a world in which people get what they deserve. Justice prevails. Even among those who have a well-rehearsed full repertoire of available prepared responses, there will almost inevitably be events and circumstances that automatically elicit the emotional reactions to the preconscious recognition of an injustice (see, e.g., Montada, Schmidt, and Dalbert, 1986, on “existential guilt”). The vast majority do adapt, more or less successfully – at least for most of the time, but probably not for all the time and all the occasions when an unanticipated compelling emotional reaction emerges.

The general culture, as well as various subcultures, provides ample material for several prepared solutions.