I don't thing those kind of PhDs really exist in significant numbers, especially in research. "Ya, that guy who just got that breakthrough in machine learning? He only has a master degree" is so common it's already normalized.
I'm not sure I get what you mean? If the specific title of PhD is unrelated to people using their titles as false sources of authorities, then what I said isn't wrong. I guess you could argue that in research many people have PhDs, so whether you have one or not is no longer a big deal.
The average occurrence of that sort of mentality across the population suggests most PhDs would have at least that majority view as being a subset of the larger. There’s also no reason to assume the factors that lead someone to obtain a PhD counter an elitist attitude. If anything, it certainly bolsters the odds through sunk cost and other psychological factors.
Put another way, it’s been my experience that nearly everybody has a view that they’re better than average or different in some positive, unique way. The worlds full of hostie personalities as well.
