ICS Working Papers Nº1/2017

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ICS WORKING PAPERS 2017
ingroup favouritism by priming loyalty, an important value, largely shared among individuals
(Rokeach, 1967).
We aim to extend research on the effects of positive social factors on the emergence
of socially negative responses by analyzing the effects of priming meritocracy on the
expression of implicit prejudice. Although meritocracy as a social norm or value is highly
accessible in Western societies, and is seen as an important determining fact of life (Katz &
Hass, 1988), it has not been studied in terms of its effects on the expression of implicit
prejudice.
Meritocracy and implicit prejudice
As mentioned, meritocracy and the set of beliefs that are comprehended in it, such as
protestant work ethic, are related to intolerance and dislike of members of stigmatized groups
(Furnham, 1985; Kluegel & Smith, 1986). A potential reason for this link is that when
meritocratic beliefs are made salient, the stigmatized are not seen as victims of a
discriminatory system, instead people construe the negative situation of members of low-
status groups as the result of a lack of self- discipline, hard work, and strong moral character
(Ledgerwood et al, 2011). This view is the result of a syllogism that can be derived from the
general message conveyed by the meritocratic norm which is that if status hierarchy is based
on merit, one might infer that those who are in a worse situation (i.e. a low status group) are
logically less hard-working and thus less valuable and deserving of their situation. This idea has
already garnered some empirical support. For example, McCoy and Major (2007) have shown
that, in a condition of meritocracy, members of a low status group (in this case, women) used
more internal attributions when trying to explain the reason for being discriminated.
Thus, meritocracy seems to lead to more negative attitudes towards stigmatized and
low-status groups and this link seems to operate through the attribution of a more internal
locus of control. What we argue is that, over time, the constant occurrence of these kinds of
propositional inferences will lead to a change in the associative structure of the representation
of groups that are targeted with such internal attributions (Gawronsky & Bodenhausen, 2006).
As a result of these propositional processes, the image of low-status groups will be constituted
by a complex network of associations in which these specific negative associations are merely
one of the several existent associative patterns.
Priming meritocracy at a given moment should then be sufficient to activate these
specific implicit associations already existent in memory (Gawronsky & Bodenhausen, 2006).
Since these implicit associations are linked to a more negative evaluation of low status groups,
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