From “haves” to “have nots”: Developmental declines in subjective social status reflect children's growing consideration of what they do not have

Peretz‐Lange, Rebecca; Harvey, Teresa; Blake, Peter

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105027

Cited by 18 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…We had predicted that the effect of SSS on risky decisions would emerge with age because children generally tend to report higher status when younger [ 44 , 45 ]. As children get older, SSS estimates also decline reflecting an explicit awareness of wealth status [ 46 ]. This pattern for SSS appeared in our data (median split: M younger = 8; M older = 6.65), but SSS remained above the midpoint of the scale for our age range.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research with adults and adolescents has found that SSS and SES are distinct constructs that have additive effects on health outcomes [42,43]. For children, multiple studies have found younger children tend to rate themselves higher on SSS even when this does not reflect their actual SES [44][45][46]. By 10 years of age, children report SSS that is in line with SES, a change that is explained in part by children recognizing what they do not have as opposed to what they have [46,47].…”

Section: (A) Cognitive Development and Risky Decisionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Developmental risk sensitivity theory: the effects of socio-economic status on children's risky gain and loss decisions

Harvey

Blake

2022

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Evolutionary developmental theories propose that early environments shape human risk preferences. Developmental risk sensitivity theory (D-RST) focuses on the plasticity of risk preferences during childhood and makes predictions about the effect of reward size based on a child's social environment. By contrast, prospect theory predicts risk aversion for gains and risk seeking for losses regardless of environment or status. We presented 4 to 10-year-olds ( n = 194) with a set of trials in which they chose between a certain amount and a chance to receive more or nothing. Two trials were equal expected value choices that differed by stake size and two were unequal expected value choices. Children either received gain trials or loss trials. Social environment was assessed using socio-economic status (SES) and subjective social status. Results confirmed the predictions of D-RST for gains based on SES. Children from lower-SES families differentiated between the high- and low-value trials and made more risky decisions for the high-value reward compared with higher-SES children. Children from higher-SES families were more risk averse for both trial types. Decisions for loss trials did not conform completely to either theory. We discuss the results in relation to evolutionary developmental theories.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: (A) Cognitive Development and Risky Decisionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental risk sensitivity theory: the effects of socio-economic status on children's risky gain and loss decisions

Harvey

Blake

2022

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…Research on children's perceptions of their social status is scarce. There is evidence from interview studies (e.g., Heberle & Carter, 2020; Weinger, 1998) that children between 4 and 10 years are aware of their relative wealth or poverty, but children's ratings of their family socioeconomic status on measurement scales remain a vague ‘in the middle’ (Chen et al, 2019; Rauscher et al, 2017) until 10 years when their estimates begin to correlate with objective measures (Mistry et al, 2015; Peretz‐Lange et al, 2022).…”

Section: Subjective Social Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children's developing understanding of economic inequality and their place within it

Dickinson

Leman

Easterbrook

2023

British J of Dev Psycho

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“…People start noticing inequalities between social groups early in life (Rhodes & Baron, 2019; Santhanagopalan et al, 2022; Shutts, 2015). For example, by at least 5 to 7 years of age, children are aware that White people tend to be wealthier than Black people (Elenbaas & Killen, 2016; Mandalaywala et al, 2020; Olson et al, 2012), that men tend to hold higher-status occupations than women (Liben et al, 2001; Miller et al, 2018), and that people of high socioeconomic status tend to have more desirable possessions (Dore et al, 2018; Peretz-Lange et al, 2022).…”

Section: Making Sense Of What Causes Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Thinking Structurally: A Cognitive Framework for Understanding How People Attribute Inequality to Structural Causes

Amemiya

Mortenson

Heyman

et al. 2022

Perspect Psychol Sci

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To make accurate causal inferences about social-group inequalities, people must consider structural causes. Structural causes are a distinct type of extrinsic cause—they are stable, interconnected societal forces that systematically advantage some social groups and disadvantage others. We propose a new cognitive framework to specify how people attribute inequality to structural causes. This framework is rooted in counterfactual theories of causal judgment and suggests that people will recognize structural factors as causal when they are perceived as “difference-making” for inequality above and beyond any intrinsic causes. Building on this foundation, our framework makes the following contributions. First, we propose specific types of evidence that support difference-making inferences about structural factors: within-group change (i.e., observing that disadvantaged groups’ outcomes improve under better societal conditions) and well-matched between-group comparisons (i.e., observing that advantaged group members, who have similar baseline traits to the disadvantaged group, experience more favorable societal conditions and life outcomes). Second, we consider contextual, cognitive, and motivational barriers that may complicate the availability and acceptance of this evidence. We conclude by exploring how the framework might be applied in future research examining people’s causal inferences about inequality.

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From “haves” to “have nots”: Developmental declines in subjective social status reflect children's growing consideration of what they do not have

Cited by 18 publications

References 74 publications

Developmental risk sensitivity theory: the effects of socio-economic status on children's risky gain and loss decisions

Developmental risk sensitivity theory: the effects of socio-economic status on children's risky gain and loss decisions

Children's developing understanding of economic inequality and their place within it

Thinking Structurally: A Cognitive Framework for Understanding How People Attribute Inequality to Structural Causes

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