People rationalize outcomes even when they know the outcomes were arbitrary

Evidence

In such domains, it has been found that people will ascribe to themselves and others traits that are consonant with their social position, whether positive or negative, rather than question the order or legitimacy of the system that produced such an arrangement or outcome. These tendencies toward system-justification occur even when subjects know that the arrangements or outcomes were arrived at arbitrarily and result in negative consequences for them. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2913

Categorization

• QUESTION: The finding that even knowledge of arbitrariness fails to undermine rationalization is striking — what is the exact mechanism that defeats the counter-evidence?
• XREF: connects to: Planned chance serves as an alibi for rationalized society — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 113; Humans rationalize arbitrary customs post hoc rather than recognizing their contingency; Humans rationalize arbitrary customs as rational or biological after settling on them — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 117