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Abstract

Two studies tested whether students' Socioeconomic Status (SES) and academic achievement level moderate their use of the SES stereotype (i.e., the belief that the low-SES individuals are intellectually inferior to their high-SES counterparts). In Study 1, low versus high achievers with a low versus a high SES were given social class information (derived from a pilot study) about several targets and were then asked to infer these targets' memory ability. In Study 2, participants were given memory performance information about several targets and were then asked to infer these targets' possessions and cultural activities (i.e., SES indicators). In both studies, only the low-SES students generated stereotype-consistent inferences.

A social identity threat perspective on being the target of generosity from a higher status other

“…In Sample 1a, the confederate always circled 9 on the ladder measure, whereas in Sample 1b, the confederate's SES was yoked to be three points higher than that of participants in the low-SES condition and the same as that of participants in the high-SES condition. To make it extremely obvious to the participants that their partner was relatively high in SES, the confederate's sheet indicated that his/her parents both had post-graduate degrees and professional jobs, and that he or she enjoyed various costly activities, but had no need for a job while attending school (adapted from Croizet & Claire, 1998;Régner et al, 2002).…”

“…For example, in an elite university setting, middle-class students experience social identity threat when comparing themselves to students from more economically privileged backgrounds, and these feelings of threat predict a reduced sense of academic belonging and self-efficacy (Johnson, Richeson, & Finkel, 2011;Walton & Cohen, 2007). In other research, situational reminders of having relatively lower SES can induce threat and impair cognitive performance (Croizet & Millet, 2012;John-Henderson, Rheinschmidt, Mendoza-Denton, & Francis, 2014;Régner, Huguet, & Monteil, 2002;Stephens, Markus, & Fryberg, 2012). Recent research also indicates that people perceive others' SES automatically (Kraus, Park, & Tan, 2017), suggesting that people can be quite sensitive to detecting SES differences between themselves and others.…”

Examining the role of perceived prestige in the link between students’ subjective socioeconomic status and sense of belonging

“…For example, low-SES students are associated with important and recurrent negative stereotypes regarding their competence (see Cuddy et al, 2009; Durante & Fiske, 2017; Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002). These stereotypes result in poorer competence evaluations from their teachers (Baron, Albright, & Malloy, 1995; Batruch, Autin, & Butera, 2017; Darley & Gross, 1983) and peers (Jonsson & Beach, 2015; Régner, Huguet, & Monteil, 2002; Varnum, 2013). In addition, beyond competence evaluation, low-SES children have been shown to be less appreciated and less chosen as friends than high-SES children, regardless of the perceiver’s own SES (Shutts, Brey, Dornbusch, Slywotzky, & Olson, 2016).…”

Who benefits from mastery-approach and performance-approach goals in college? Students’ social class as a moderator of the link between goals and grade

“…This mismatch further impairs their academic grades. In addition, lower-class students are the targets of a negative stereotype concerning their abilities (Croizet and Claire 1998;Régner et al 2002;Spencer and Castano 2007). Thus, in academic contexts, lower-class students are likely to experience a stereotype threat (Croizet and Claire 1998;Croizet et al 2001;Harrison et al 2006;Spencer and Castano 2007).…”