How generalizable is the inverse relationship between social class and emotion perception?

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Cognitive Science
• Sociology

Background:

• Higher social status is theorized to reduce attention to social cues.
• Previous studies often show negative correlations between social class and emotion perception.
• Prior research had limitations in sample size, diversity, and measurement consistency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the generalizability of the negative correlation between social class and emotion perception.
• To investigate these relationships across diverse and large participant samples (10,000+).
• To re-evaluate the impact of objective and subjective social class measures on emotion perception.

Main Methods:

• Four studies were conducted with varying sample sizes, including one initial study (n=179) and three large-scale studies (n=2,079 to 4,312).
• Emotion identification and discrimination were assessed.
• Social class was operationalized using subjective measures, education (participant, parental), and childhood family income.

Main Results:

• Study 1 partially replicated negative correlations with subjective social class and education.
• Studies 2-4, using larger samples, showed divergent results: positive correlations between emotion perception and objective social class measures (education, income).
• Findings were consistent when analyses were restricted to U.S. participants.

Conclusions:

• Previously reported negative correlations between emotion perception and social class may not generalize well.
• Results suggest objective measures of social class are positively related to emotion perception in large, diverse samples.
• The study provides large normative datasets for future research on social class and emotion perception.