System Justification Theory and Epistemic Limitations: Understanding Student Teachers' Epistemic Resistance to Critical Topics

Students in teacher education programs are often faced with perceived threats to their epistemological heritages. According to System Justification Theory, when faced with these perceived threats, individuals may become more defensive, epistemically resistant, and cognitively rigid. More specifically, due to a palliative psychological need, students may become motivated to justify what they conceive of as the status quo, or system justifications, to defend their epistemological heritage and socializations. Students may face perceived threats to their social and epistemological heritages in courses which are critically focused, such as foundations of education courses, and courses where there are requirements for both dialogical and dialectical engagement. System Justification Theory offers the potential to be utilized as a way of understanding student teachers' epistemological resistance and epistemic vices while informing teacher educators' pedagogy.