A team of researchers from the Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC) at the University of Granada and the Institute of Psychological Research at the University of Costa Rica have published a scientific article examining whether the degree of acceptance of economic inequality is associated with trust in the sitting government, and whether both factors, in turn, might function as a "filter" for interpreting the country's economy.
The study, conducted by Eva Moreno-Bella, Mar Montoya-Lozano, Armel Brizuela-Rodríguez and Juan Diego García-Castro and published in the International Journal of Social Psychology, focuses on Costa Rica. Although Costa Rican society maintains the social myth of the "igualiticos" — the belief that the entire population enjoys equal opportunities — objective data ranks it as one of the most unequal countries in Latin America and the most unequal in the OECD.
The researchers start from the premise that living in unequal contexts does not necessarily imply that people seek greater equality. In fact, many individuals adopt an attitude of acceptance and/or tolerance toward these economic differences. Previous research has shown that holding positive attitudes toward economic inequality is associated with greater trust in institutions. One of the novelties of the study by Moreno-Bella and colleagues is that they specifically analyze trust in the sitting government and president. Furthermore, the authors proposed that trust in the government and president could function as a system-justifying mechanism for the economic system by biasing the perception of the country's economic situation. By analyzing two independent national databases (CIEP-UCR 2024 and Latinobarómetro 2023), with a total sample of 1,801 Costa Rican participants, the research team tested their hypotheses.
Across the two studies comprising the research, results indicate that accepting inequality is associated with greater trust in the government and president of Costa Rica at the time (Rodrigo Chaves). In addition, results from the second study indicated that this higher trust in government is related to a more positive perception of the country's economic situation. In other words, the researchers argue that trust in the sitting government and president could act as a filter that biases interpretation of the environment: citizens who trust the Costa Rican government and president the most evaluate their country's economic performance more positively than objective indicators suggest.
This distortion of reality could have direct political consequences. "This 'blindfold' that some citizens wear could hinder momentum toward redistributive policies that would achieve a more equal society," concludes the research team. By failing to perceive the severity of the economic situation, social support for necessary measures to reduce disparities diminishes. The researchers highlight the importance of identifying these psychosocial mechanisms of inequality legitimization in order to propose courses of action at the political and social levels in particularly unequal contexts, such as Latin America in general and Costa Rica in particular.
The authors express their gratitude to the Space for Advanced Studies at the University of Costa Rica (UCREA) for supporting the first author's research stay.
Reference
Moreno-Bella, E., Montoya-Lozano, M., Brizuela Rodríguez, A., & García-Castro, J. D. (2026). Blindfolded: Acceptance of Economic Inequality is Associated With Trust in Government and Perceived Economic Performance. International Journal of Social Psychology: Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02134748261460646
Contact
Eva Moreno-Bella - evamoreno@ugr.es