People of higher social class have an exaggerated belief that they are better than others



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WASHINGTON – People who think of themselves as belonging to a higher social class may have a tendency to exaggerately believe that they are more adept than their equally competent lower class counterparts, and that excessive trust can often be misinterpreted as an increased skill in important situations, such as job interviews, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association.

"Benefits bring benefits: those born in the upper classes are likely to stay in the upper classes, and the highest-income entrepreneurs are disproportionately well-educated and well-off families," said Peter Belmi, PhD , from the University of Virginia and lead author of the study. "Our research suggests that social class shapes people's attitudes about their abilities and, as such, has important implications for how class hierarchies are perpetuated from one generation to the next. ;other."

The study was published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Belmi and his colleagues conducted a series of four surveys on the link between social class and excessive trust and how this could affect the perception that others have of a person's competence. The largest involved more than 150,000 small business owners in Mexico applying for a loan. To measure social class, the researchers obtained information on the income, level of education and perception of the reputation of these candidates as part of the application process.

Candidates were also required to perform a psychological assessment to assess their creditworthiness. Part of it included a flash card game, a cognitive test in which an image disappears after being pressed and a new image is replaced. They must then determine if the second image corresponds to the first one. After 20 trials, candidates were asked to rate their results against others on a scale of 1 to 100.

When the researchers compared the actual scores with the candidates' predictions, they found that people with higher education, higher incomes, and higher perceived social class were overly confident that they would outperform others, compared to their lower class counterparts.

Two other surveys involving more than 1,400 online participants revealed a similar association between social class and overconfidence. In one of them, the researchers submitted a questionnaire to the participants. Those of the higher social class thought they had done better than others; However, when the researchers looked at actual performance, this was not the case.

For the latest survey, researchers recruited 236 undergraduate students. They each had to answer a 15-question questionnaire and ask them to predict how they behaved in relation to others. They also asked them to rate their social class, their family income, and their mother's and father's education level. A week later, the students were taken back to the lab for a simulated video interview. More than 900 judges, recruited online, viewed one of the videos and noted their impression of the applicant's competence.

Once again, researchers discovered that students of a higher social class tended to be more confident, but they also found that this excessive trust was misinterpreted by judges who viewed their videos with greater skill. .

"Individuals with a relatively high social class were more confident, which was associated with being perceived as more competent and ultimately more desirable, even though, on average, they were not better at the test. triviality than their lower class counterparts, "said Belmi.

The effect of excessive trust may be partly due to differences in values ​​between the middle and working classes, according to Belmi.

"In the middle class, people are socialized to differentiate themselves from others, to express what they think and feel, and to express their ideas and opinions with confidence, even when they lack specific knowledge. On the other hand, people of the working class are socialized with values ​​of humility, authenticity and knowing your place in the hierarchy, "he said. "These results challenge the widely held belief that everyone thinks they are better than average." Our results suggest that this type of thinking might be more prevalent among the middle and upper classes. "

The results join a growing body of research on why class-based hierarchies continue to persist from generation to generation, according to Belmi.

"Our results suggest that in order to find solutions to class inequalities, it may be necessary to focus on subtle and seemingly harmless human tendencies," he said. "Although people may be well intentioned, these inequities will continue to perpetuate themselves if people do not correct their natural tendency of humans to confuse impressions of trust with evidence of ability."

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Article: "The Social Benefit of Misjudged People: The Relationship Between Social Class and Excessive Confidence and its Consequences on Class-Based Inequity", by Peter Belmi, PhD, University of Virginia; Margaret Neale, PhD, Stanford University; and David Reiff, BA, and Rosemary Ulfe, BA, LenddoEFL. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, published online May 20, 2019.

The full text of the article is available online at the address

https: //www.apa.org /pubs /journals /releases /psp-pspi0000187.pdf

Contact: Peter Belmi can be contacted by email at [email protected] or by phone at (434) 924-7489.

The American Psychological Association, in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. The APA has nearly 118,400 researchers, teachers, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subdomains of psychology and its affiliations with 60 provincial, territorial and Canadian associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication, and development of the community. The application of psychological knowledge to the benefit of society and improves the lives of people.

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