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The Influence of Signs of Social Class on Prosocial Behavior: A Field Experiment

Author

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  • Callaghan, Bennett
  • Delgadillo, Quinton Michael
  • Kraus, Michael W.

    (Yale University)

Abstract

A field experiment (N = 4,537) examined how signs of social class influence prosocial behavior. In the experiment, pedestrians were exposed to a target wearing symbols of relatively high or low social class in two major urban cities in the USA who was presumably requesting money to help the homeless. Pedestrians gave more than twice (2.55 times) as much to the target wearing high social class symbols than they did to the one wearing lower-class symbols. A follow-up perceptual study exposed participants to images of this panhandler wearing the same higher- or lower-class symbols, finding that higher-class symbols elicited perceptions of elevated competence, trustworthiness, similarity to the self, and perceived humanity compared to lower-class symbols. These results indicate that perceivers use visible signs of social class as a basis for judging others’ traits and attributes, and in decisions to directly share resources. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper)

Suggested Citation

  • Callaghan, Bennett & Delgadillo, Quinton Michael & Kraus, Michael W., 2022. "The Influence of Signs of Social Class on Prosocial Behavior: A Field Experiment," SocArXiv z8dn7, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:z8dn7
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/z8dn7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Akihiro Nishi & Hirokazu Shirado & David G. Rand & Nicholas A. Christakis, 2015. "Inequality and visibility of wealth in experimental social networks," Nature, Nature, vol. 526(7573), pages 426-429, October.
    2. Anne Case & Angua Deaton, 2015. "Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st century," Working Papers 15078.full.pdf, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
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