Pulling Up the Ladder: Enduring Adversity Increases Opposition to Reform

Pulling Up the Ladder: Enduring Adversity Increases Opposition to Reform | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Pulling Up the Ladder: Enduring Adversity Increases Opposition to Reform Michelle Kim, Ayelet Gneezy, Alex Imas This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6386238/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Is it correct to assume that individuals who have previously overcome adversity are more likely to help others facing similar challenges? We identify conditions where prior hardship reduces support for easing others’ obstacles. We propose that this “pulling up the ladder” effect emerges when individuals associate past adversity with valued achievement: easing the process for others can invalidate their prior hardship and diminish their accomplishment. We provide evidence for this hypothesis through a series of studies. We first demonstrate that recent immigrants are less likely to support easing immigration restrictions compared to a matched group of US-born citizens from the same ethnic background. In controlled experiments, participants whose accomplishments were directly linked to experiencing adversity become less willing to reduce similar hardships for future participants compared to those going through the exact same experience without the link. Finally, we provide evidence for the mechanism: people “pull up the ladder” to protect their achievements' perceived value. Our results have implications for understanding exclusionary attitudes and the limits of shared experience in motivating support for reform. Social science/Psychology/Human behaviour Social science/Social policy Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. All studies in this research were approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of California, San Diego (#806125), and informed consent was obtained from all participants. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6386238","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":441631497,"identity":"4901d8c5-eb54-4cf9-8487-98370d0170bb","order_by":0,"name":"Michelle Kim","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA+ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJCCA4wNDDJ8DGwMBxgqgFxm5gaitPCwgbWcAWlhJKyFAaaFgbENysUHDM6fTjzwc4cNDxt7W+Khm/Nqo/nbgVp+VGzDreVG7oaDvWfSeNh4jh04nLvteO6Mw4wNjD1nbuPRwrvhMGPbYR42ifQGoJZjuQ1ALcyMbXi0nD8L0vKfh03+OVDLnGO58wlqOZAL0nIAaAsb0GENNSAufi2SYL+0JQP9kpZwOOfYgdyNQC0H8fmF7/zZzR9+ttnJ8bMfM/6cU1OXO+/84YMPflTg1qJwAJV/GEwewFCHBOQbUPl1+BSPglEwCkbBCAUAPt1kYsYnye4AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1402-7303","institution":"University of California San Diego","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Michelle","middleName":"","lastName":"Kim","suffix":""},{"id":441631498,"identity":"ec9c37aa-8079-4e48-9b82-49305ea5ef04","order_by":1,"name":"Ayelet Gneezy","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6443-4615","institution":"UC San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ayelet","middleName":"","lastName":"Gneezy","suffix":""},{"id":441631499,"identity":"be8ffa6f-b1b0-488a-b4b5-128f51ed31e5","order_by":2,"name":"Alex Imas","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Chicago","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alex","middleName":"","lastName":"Imas","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-04-06 10:55:17","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6386238/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6386238/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":82807110,"identity":"556034e8-d3cc-4de3-8d30-07a804c9b9ad","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-05-15 12:39:32","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":224484,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"Masnucript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6386238/v1_covered_2b104058-e84b-415a-993d-8495f0e92f24.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cp\u003eThere is \u003cstrong\u003eNO\u003c/strong\u003e Competing Interest.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll studies in this research were approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of California, San Diego (#806125), and informed consent was obtained from all participants.\u003c/p\u003e","formattedTitle":"Pulling Up the Ladder: Enduring Adversity\r\nIncreases Opposition to Reform","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6386238/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6386238/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Is it correct to assume that individuals who have previously overcome adversity are more likely to help others facing similar challenges? 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