The Other Criteria of Meritocracy: Relevance Beliefs Justify Discrimination As Fair

Meritocracy requires outcomes be determined by individuals’ efforts; people discriminate the more internally controlled they believe a characteristic to be (e.g., weight). However, meritocracy also requires relevance - that individuals' relevant efforts matter. Across 9 studies, relevance beliefs affect people’s discrimination (race, disability, age) and competitive (ingratiation, name dropping) behaviors.