A significant amount of research about health focuses on the effects of socio-economic status. Socio-economic status (or SES for short) represents a person’s general access to resources and social position. SES is usually measured by looking at a person’s education, income, and job, among other things. Science has found that people’s SES relates to their health in a number of ways; for example people of lower SES are more likely to develop heart disease or begin smoking than people of higher SES.¹ However, research suggests that people’s SES can affect their psychology as well. Today’s research paper looked at how SES can affect people’s perceptions of themselves and others.² This research sends a clear message: that people of lower SES can afford to be easier on themselves.   

The researchers conducted a series of studies to examine how people think others see them based on their SES. The first study recorded participants’ SES (income, education, and their parents’ income and education). Next, participants paired up to have short conversations to get to know each other. After the conversations, the researchers asked participants to report both what they thought of their conversation partner and what they think their conversation partner thought about them. Participants rated both their partner and themselves on a number of traits or qualities related to warmth and competence. The results of this study revealed that people with lower SES thought that their conversation partners viewed them more negatively than they actually did. People at each level of SES generally saw their partners as warm and competent. However, the ratings that the lower SES participants expected from their partners were below what their partners actually gave them.  

In a following study, the researchers investigated how people at different levels of SES would react to negative feedback. The study began in the same way as the first where participants had short conversations with partners. Participants were then told they would have a second conversation with their partner if their partner agreed to it. However, the participants were given false feed-back that their partner did not want to have a second conversation. They were told this was because their partner had a negative impression of them. The researchers then asked participants to state why they thought their partners did not want to continue talking with them.  

The results of this study showed that people at different levels of SES tended to come up with different reasons for why their partner didn’t want to talk to them. In particular, participants of lower SES tended to blame themselves entirely. For example, they would say that they were awkward or didn’t make enough intelligent comments (even if this wasn’t actually true). On the other hand, the higher SES participants would blame factors outside of themselves as much as they blamed themselves. For example, they would say that they just weren’t a good fit with the other person or that the other person was unfriendly.  

Overall, this research shows that people of lower SES deserve to be more confident in themselves and not blame themselves so much. Other people see low SES individuals in a much more positive light than they see themselves. The researchers conclude that this low self-regard might lead people to miss out on opportunities that they might otherwise seize. Hopefully, this knowledge can help those of us who have fallen on hard times realize that they are more competent and worthy than they give themselves credit for, and others recognize this even when they don’t recognize it themselves.   

Socio-economic status (SES) – Socio-economic status is a person’s general access to resources and social position/rank. SES is measured by things like income, education, or job.  

Competence – competence is a person's ability to do things well and skillfully.  

1. Smith, J. P. (1999). Healthy bodies and thick wallets: the dual relation between health and economic status. Journal of Economic perspectives, 13(2), 145-166. 
2. Engstrom, H. R., Laurin, K., Kay, N. R., & Human, L. J. (2023). Socioeconomic Status and Meta-Perceptions: How Markers of Culture and Rank Predict Beliefs About How Others See Us. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 01461672231171435.