How We Know What Isn't So (A Psychological Study on Logic)

by Thomas Gilovich

Another factor that can make a selection criterion appear spuriously effective is that the mere fact of being in the “accepted” group can give a person a competitive advantage over those who were rejected. Some of those who receive research grants go on to have more productive careers than some who were less fortunate, not because their research ideas were any better, but because the grant enabled them to examine their ideas more thoroughly. Some of the students who score well enough on the SAT to be admitted to a prestigious college go on to become professionally successful men and women partly because of the superior intellectual environment their high scores allowed them to experience.