Why the belief in meritocracy is so pervasive

Ian R. Hadden; Céline Darnon; Lewis Doyle; Matthew J. Easterbrook; Sébastien Goudeau; Andrei Cimpian

doi:10.1016/j.tics.2024.12.008

Why the belief in meritocracy is so pervasive

Ian R. Hadden, Céline Darnon, Lewis Doyle, Matthew J. Easterbrook, Sébastien Goudeau, Andrei Cimpian

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Short survey › peer-review

Abstract

People worldwide tend to believe that their societies are more meritocratic than they actually are. We propose the belief in meritocracy is widespread because it is rooted in simple, seemingly obvious causal–explanatory intuitions. Our proposal suggests solutions for debunking the myth of meritocracy and increasing support for equity-oriented policies.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	101-104
Number of pages	4
Journal	Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Volume	29
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.12.008
State	Published - Feb 2025

Keywords

belief revision
cognitive bias
explanation
inherence bias
meritocracy
motivated reasoning

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive Neuroscience

Access to Document

10.1016/j.tics.2024.12.008

Cite this

@article{26d8994c98ea49b79694f33feb80de25,

title = "Why the belief in meritocracy is so pervasive",

abstract = "People worldwide tend to believe that their societies are more meritocratic than they actually are. We propose the belief in meritocracy is widespread because it is rooted in simple, seemingly obvious causal–explanatory intuitions. Our proposal suggests solutions for debunking the myth of meritocracy and increasing support for equity-oriented policies.",

keywords = "belief revision, cognitive bias, explanation, inherence bias, meritocracy, motivated reasoning",

author = "Hadden, {Ian R.} and C{\'e}line Darnon and Lewis Doyle and Easterbrook, {Matthew J.} and S{\'e}bastien Goudeau and Andrei Cimpian",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024 The Authors",

year = "2025",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1016/j.tics.2024.12.008",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "29",

pages = "101--104",

journal = "Trends in Cognitive Sciences",

issn = "1364-6613",

publisher = "Elsevier Ltd",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Why the belief in meritocracy is so pervasive

AU - Hadden, Ian R.

AU - Darnon, Céline

AU - Doyle, Lewis

AU - Easterbrook, Matthew J.

AU - Goudeau, Sébastien

AU - Cimpian, Andrei

PY - 2025/2

Y1 - 2025/2

N2 - People worldwide tend to believe that their societies are more meritocratic than they actually are. We propose the belief in meritocracy is widespread because it is rooted in simple, seemingly obvious causal–explanatory intuitions. Our proposal suggests solutions for debunking the myth of meritocracy and increasing support for equity-oriented policies.

AB - People worldwide tend to believe that their societies are more meritocratic than they actually are. We propose the belief in meritocracy is widespread because it is rooted in simple, seemingly obvious causal–explanatory intuitions. Our proposal suggests solutions for debunking the myth of meritocracy and increasing support for equity-oriented policies.

KW - belief revision

KW - cognitive bias

KW - explanation

KW - inherence bias

KW - meritocracy

KW - motivated reasoning

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85214586879&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85214586879&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.tics.2024.12.008

DO - 10.1016/j.tics.2024.12.008

M3 - Short survey

C2 - 39794244

AN - SCOPUS:85214586879

SN - 1364-6613

VL - 29

SP - 101

EP - 104

JO - Trends in Cognitive Sciences

JF - Trends in Cognitive Sciences

IS - 2

ER -

Why the belief in meritocracy is so pervasive

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this