Pulling up the ladder: Enduring adversity increases opposition to reform

Abstract A common assumption is 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 experience instrumental adversity—where past adversity is directly tied to a valued achievement—because easing the process for others decreases the perceived value of their own achievement. 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 with a matched group of US-born citizens from the same ethnic background. In controlled experiments, participants whose adverse experience was directly linked to an accomplishment (instrumental adversity) were less willing to reduce similar hardships for future participants compared with those whose adverse experience was not directly linked to an accomplishment (circumstantial adversity). Finally, we provide evidence for the mechanism: people “pull up the ladder” to protect the perceived value of their achievements. Our results have implications for understanding exclusionary attitudes and the limits of shared experience in motivating support for reform.