What describes the phenomenon where the harder we work for something, the more likely we are to believe that the effort is justified?

Justification of effort refers to the psychological phenomenon where individuals tend to ascribe greater value to an outcome based on the amount of effort they put into achieving it. This concept is rooted in cognitive dissonance theory, which suggests that when people work hard for something but do not get the expected reward, they may experience discomfort or dissonance. To alleviate this discomfort, individuals may convince themselves that the outcome is more valuable simply because they invested considerable effort.

For example, if a student spends a significant amount of time studying for an exam, they may be more likely to claim that the received grade was fair or deserved, even if the grade is lower than expected. This cognitive process occurs because they need to reconcile the effort they put in with the results; thus, they enhance the perceived value of the outcome to justify their investment.

The other concepts do not capture this specific phenomenon. While belief perseverance refers to maintaining a belief despite contrary evidence, and mental set and fixation describe the cognitive obstacles encountered when trying to solve problems, they do not directly relate to the relationship between effort and outcome valuation that justification of effort embodies.