A Compensatory Control Account of Meritocracy
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Goode, Chris
Keefer, Lucas A.
Molina, Ludwin E.
Abstract / Description
Why are people motivated to support social systems that claim to distribute resources based on hard work and effort, even when those systems seem unfair? Recent research on compensatory control shows that lowered perceptions of personal control motivate a greater endorsement of external systems (e.g., God, government) that compensate for a lack of personal control. The present studies demonstrate that U.S. citizens’ faith in a popular economic ideology, namely the belief that hard work guarantees success (i.e., meritocracy), similarly increases under conditions of decreased personal control. We found that a threat to personal control increased participants’ endorsement of meritocracy (Studies 1 and 2). Additionally, lowered perceptions of control led to increased feelings of anxiety regarding the future, but the subsequent endorsement of (Study 2) or exposure to (Study 3) meritocracy attenuated this effect. While the compensatory use of meritocracy may be a phenomenon unique to the United States of America, these studies provide important insight into the appeal and persistence of ideologies in general.
Keyword(s)
meritocracy compensatory control ideology system justification social mobilityPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2014-12-01
Journal title
Journal of Social and Political Psychology
Volume
2
Issue
1
Page numbers
313–334
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Goode, C., Keefer, L. A., & Molina, L. E. (2014). A Compensatory Control Account of Meritocracy. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2(1), 313–334. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v2i1.372
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Goode, Chris
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Keefer, Lucas A.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Molina, Ludwin E.
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-11-26T12:44:51Z
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Made available on2018-11-26T12:44:51Z
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Date of first publication2014-12-01
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Abstract / DescriptionWhy are people motivated to support social systems that claim to distribute resources based on hard work and effort, even when those systems seem unfair? Recent research on compensatory control shows that lowered perceptions of personal control motivate a greater endorsement of external systems (e.g., God, government) that compensate for a lack of personal control. The present studies demonstrate that U.S. citizens’ faith in a popular economic ideology, namely the belief that hard work guarantees success (i.e., meritocracy), similarly increases under conditions of decreased personal control. We found that a threat to personal control increased participants’ endorsement of meritocracy (Studies 1 and 2). Additionally, lowered perceptions of control led to increased feelings of anxiety regarding the future, but the subsequent endorsement of (Study 2) or exposure to (Study 3) meritocracy attenuated this effect. While the compensatory use of meritocracy may be a phenomenon unique to the United States of America, these studies provide important insight into the appeal and persistence of ideologies in general.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationGoode, C., Keefer, L. A., & Molina, L. E. (2014). A Compensatory Control Account of Meritocracy. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2(1), 313–334. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v2i1.372en_US
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ISSN2195-3325
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1351
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1718
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v2i1.372
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Keyword(s)meritocracyen_US
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Keyword(s)compensatory controlen_US
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Keyword(s)ideologyen_US
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Keyword(s)system justificationen_US
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Keyword(s)social mobilityen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleA Compensatory Control Account of Meritocracyen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue1
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Journal titleJournal of Social and Political Psychology
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Page numbers313–334
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Volume2
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Visible tag(s)Version of Record