You’ll feel better, and be worse off
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The Wisdom of Psychopaths
In this engrossing journey into the lives of psychopaths and their infamously crafty behaviors, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals that there is a...
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The desire for social status is one of the most important factors driving human behavior. Our place on the social hierarchy can determine everything from who we marry to how long we live. However, recent research suggests that some of the things we do to boost our status can backfire: they may make us feel better temporarily but increase the chances we will be stuck with lower status.
For example, a recent set of studies found that when people feel they have low status, they offer to pay more money than they need to. The University of San Diego’s Aarti Ivanic and her colleagues, recruited African-American and Caucasian participants at a shopping mall. They gave half of their participants a list of ten characteristics that are stereotypically associated with African-Americans. Participants were asked to read each characteristic (e.g. “High athletic ability”) and indicate how much it applied to them personally. The purpose of this exercise was to highlight racial stereotypes for those participants, thereby increasing their feelings of low status. Afterwards, participants were shown a description of high-end headphones and asked how much they would be willing to pay for them. African-Americans who had been reminded of their race offered to pay significantly more money for the headphones compared to either Caucasians or African-Americans who hadn’t been reminded of their race.
Ivanic and her colleagues conducted a similar study online, asking participants to evaluate a standard vacation package at a hotel. They were given the option of upgrading to a “luxury” room and asked how much they would be willing to pay for the upgrade. African-American participants who had been reminded of their race offered to pay more for the luxury upgrade. They did so despite not expressing a greater preference for the upgrade.
Thus, in an attempt to reassert feelings of social status, African-Americans may be led to behave in a way that causes them more unfairness. After all, consumers who are known to pay more are likely to be charged more. Past research has found that African-Americans are often charged more than other groups for the same products and services.
Ivanic’s studies focused on race—a highly visible proxy for status in society. However, everyone is potentially vulnerable to feelings of low status, whether due to losing a job, experiencing poor treatment, or being surrounded by people we perceive as having high status. Derek Rucker and Adam Galinsky of Northwestern University found that manipulating people’s feelings of status can change the amount people are willing to pay for different products. Participants were asked to write about a time they either felt powerful or powerless. They were then presented with different products and asked how much they would be willing to pay for each. People who had just written about feeling powerless offered to pay significantly more for products that signal high status—for example, a fancy pen or a fur coat. Rucker and Galinsky’s results suggest that people who regularly feel powerless may be at greater risk for going into debt.
Aside from lightening our wallets, feelings of low status can also lead us to gain weight. David Dubois and his colleagues ran several studies demonstrating that when people feel powerless, they are more likely to opt for an extra large coffee or smoothie. In one study, the researchers examined whether this preference for large portions is driven by a need for status or a desire for greater calories. After manipulating feelings of status, participants were all given the same amount of food and asked to choose their own container. The containers varied in size from small to very large. Participants who had been made to feel powerless chose larger containers in which to eat their food. Feelings of low status cause us to choose larger portions in order to signal greater status to others. However, larger portion sizes may eventually cause us to gain weight, thereby lowering our status.
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6 Comments
Add Comment"Past research has found that African-Americans are often charged more than other groups for the same products and services."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCan you cite this research?
This might help clarify:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://tinyurl.com/7auaa49
The good news is everyone is the same race when they purchase online.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe bad news is- not for ever; I'm sure those who still allow facebook to steal their lives will soon have their race, age, etc provided to any online retailer who wants it the moment you log on to their web-store.
Interesting.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI've always thought people who cared about status were morons.
What does that say about me?
So now we know why sales clerks and waiters act snooty.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhen my mother went shopping, she would, in front of the sales clerk, finger various parts of the product, frown and give the clerk a disapproving look. The price would drop. Of course my mother was not being arbitrary. She could, for instance, tell the difference between a hand-sewn button hole and a machine sewn one, and knew how the difference affected price. She knew what features said luxury and which said imitation luxury. She just wanted the imitation but at a lower price. It looks like her schtick lowered the clerk's status and so the clerk was willing to give a big discount. All I knew was that it worked. I didn't know why.
Me, I just go for cheap, mostly, but not always, because sometimes cheap just doesn't work.
Interesting. I wonder if any studies exists about the drop in "performance" if reminded of low status.
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