This article presents an account of job discrimination according to which people redefine merit in a manner congenial to the idiosyncratic credentials of individual applicants from desired groups. In three studies, participants assigned male and female applicants to gender-stereotypical jobs. However, they did not view male and female applicants as having different strengths and weaknesses. Ins...

We introduce methods for identifying operator preconditions that need not be expanded further. The methods are proved to be admissible , that is, they will not cause a solution to be missed when one exists. In certain cases, the methods also identify operator reformulations that increase the number of nonexpandable preconditions. This approach provides effective loop control in common situation...