People are motivated to perceive themselves as having control over their lives.
Consequently, they respond to events and cognitions that reduce control with compensatory …

Hierarchies are a ubiquitous form of human social organization. We hypothesized that 1
reason for the prevalence of hierarchies is that they offer structure and therefore satisfy the …

Abstract System justification theory (SJT) posits that members of low-status groups are more
likely to see their social systems as legitimate than members of high-status groups because …

We propose that the system justification motive drives individuals to exaggerate their
system's virtues, downplay its vices, and see the societal status quo as more fair and …

The contemporary political landscape is characterized by numerous divisive issues. Unlike
many other issues, however, much of the disagreement about climate change centers not on …

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have endorsed conspiracy theories about
foreign governments yet shown increased trust and support for their own government …

We examined the link between political engagement and the tendency to justify the
sociopolitical system. On one hand, confidence in the system should be negatively related to …

Rooting our model in the compensatory control theory, we propose that one reason behind
the prevalence of market relationships in modern society is that the fundamental need for …

Although the legitimacy of an economic system is often dependent on citizen support,
psychological research has paid little attention to attitudes toward economic systems. In the …

Does government stability shift the way White and Black Americans represent and make
voting decisions about political candidates? Participants judged how representative …