Upper class people do believe they are better than lower classes

Upper class people do believe they are better than lower classesUpper class people do believe they are better than lower classesPeople in higher classes have a sense of overconfidence and the idea that they are mora skilled than they actually are, a new study indicates. Because of our cultural bias toward confidence, that bluster often works to their advantage in situations like job interviews, and that overconfidence is often interpreted as more capable.Advantages beget advantages. Those who are born in upper-class echelons are likely to remain in the upper class, and high-earning entrepreneurs disproportionately originate from highly educated, well-to-do families, said Peter Belmi, PhD, of the University of Virginia and lead author of the study, in a release. Our research suggests that social class shapes the attitudes that people hold about their abilities.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscie nce, and moreResearchers from the US and Singapore performed four experiments to example class and to gauge peoples perceptions of their abilities.In one, people played a flashcard game as a cognitive test. The people with more education, income, and higher perceived social class believed they would do better on the test than others, compared with the lower-class participants.The next two experiments were online and involved over 1,400 participants. In one, researchers gave participants a trivia test. Participants from a higher social class thought they did better than most, however, they did not.The last experiment involved a mock hiring interview, which was videotaped and watched by more than 900 judges, recruited online. When the judges rated each applicants competence, they tended to mix together overconfidence with competence.Individuals with relatively high social class were more overconfident, which in turn was associated with being perceived as more competent and ultimately more hirable, even though, on average, they were no better at the trivia test than their lower-class counterparts, said Belmi.He pointed out the vast differences even between the middle and working class.In the middle class, people are socialized to differentiate themselves from others, to express what they think and feel and to confidently express their ideas and opinions, even when they lack accurate knowledge. By contrast, working-class people are socialized to embrace the values of humility, authenticity and knowing your place in the hierarchy, he said.Its not a universal trait to think youre better than most, Belmi said.Our results suggest that this type of thinking might be more prevalent among the middle and upper classes.The study was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people