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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

Arnold Kling's "Genghis Khan" view of academia can explain this very easily.

The more you defer to your advisor, the more you are setting yourself up for a life of following in that person's footsteps. That's a tempting proposition if you work for Ghenghis Khan himself. If you are working for some podunk nobody, though, then it's less tempting, and you are more tempted to swing for the fences and hope to make it big later on.

It also matters on a day to day basis with your involvement with other people. When you align with Genghis Khan, you will walk through life having everyone bow to the things you say except for a few weirdo outcasts. If you align with a nobody, it's just the opposite; everyone including Genghis's tribe will be throwing rotten tomatoes at you, much like if you identify as libertarian or as a gold bug.

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Paul Gowder's avatar

To what extent is it possible that this same dynamic applies to professors? Those at lower-ranked schools could also perceive themselves as erroneously assigned low status, and thus perceive a larger difference between the deference owed to their advice and the deference it receives.

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