Doctoral Dissertation Research: Perception of Social Mobility and Attitudes Related to Inequality

本研究探讨个人对社会流动性的看法如何影响对不平等和资源再分配的态度。调查数据显示，与其他国家的个人相比，美国人对结果不平等的容忍度更高，对再分配政策的厌恶程度更高。对这一现象的一个有影响力的解释是，美国人倾向于认为他们一直生活在一个移动的社会中，在这个社会中，个人的成功只在一定程度上取决于家庭背景。然而，大量研究表明，这种对社会流动性的看法与现实不符。该项目将测试纠正对社会流动性的误解是否可以改变对不平等和再分配的态度。通过获得关于美国社会流动性的准确信息，高估（低估）流动性的个人将变得不那么（更多）容忍经济不平等，并要求更多（更少）再分配。本项目的研究结果将有助于我们通过强调个人主观感受的重要性来理解社会流动和不平等，并为有关再分配的社会政策提供投入。 该项目将使用在线调查实验来检验假设。被招募的受试者将首先回答一系列关于他们对美国相对于其他一些发达国家的社会流动性的看法的调查问题。治疗组受试者（而非对照组受试者）将立即获得这些问题的正确答案。所有受试者，无论治疗状态如何，都将被要求报告他们对不平等和再分配的态度。假设表明，当个人的误解得到纠正时，态度会发生转变。将通过Amazon Mechanical Turk招募600名受试者。另外1，000名受试者将通过Qualtrics Online Sample招募，该样本将在初次接触一周后重新调查参与者，以评估治疗效果是否持续。这种研究设计允许因果推理，因为实验随机分配受试者的条件，这改善了以前的研究类似的主题使用相关设计。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得支持的评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

This project examines how individual perceptions of social mobility affect attitudes toward inequality and resource redistribution. Survey data have shown that compared to individuals in other countries, Americans display higher tolerance toward outcome inequality and more aversion to redistributive policies. One influential explanation for this phenomenon is that Americans tend to believe they have been living in a mobile society in which individual success is only modestly determined by family background. However, considerable research shows that such perceptions of social mobility are not aligned with reality. This project will test whether correcting misperceptions of social mobility can alter attitudes toward inequality and redistribution. By receiving accurate information about social mobility in the United States, individuals who turn out to have overestimated (underestimated) mobility will become less (more) tolerant of economic inequality and demand more (less) redistribution. Findings of this project will contribute to our understanding about social mobility and inequality by highlighting the importance of individual subjective perceptions, and provide input into social policies regarding redistribution. The project will test hypotheses using an online survey experiment. Recruited subjects will first answer a series of survey questions regarding their perceptions of social mobility in the United States relative to some other developed countries. Subjects in the treatment group, but not in the control group, will immediately receive correct answers to these questions. All subjects, regardless of treatment status, will be asked to report their attitudes toward inequality and redistribution. Hypotheses suggest there will be attitudinal shifts when individual misperceptions are corrected. Six hundred subjects will be recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Another 1,000 subjects will be recruited via a Qualtrics Online Sample, which will resurvey participants after one week of the initial contact to evaluate if the treatment effects persist. This research design allows causal inferences because the experiment randomly assigns subjects to conditions, which improves upon prior studies on similar topics using correlational designs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.