社会困境中合作行为的阶层差异：自我与他人的双重视角

Class Differences in Human Cooperation in Social Dilemmas: A Dual Perspective from Self and Others

采用问卷与实验法探究个体自身与他人的社会阶层对其在社会困境中合作行为的影响及作用机制。研究1考察了个体自身阶层的行为效应,结果发现低阶层者倾向于比高阶层者表现出更多的合作行为;研究2同时考察了个体自身阶层与互动对象阶层对合作行为的影响,结果发现感知到的互动对象阶层对不同阶层个体的合作行为存在显著的调节效应,个体对互动对象的信任水平对此调节效应起中介作用。这项研究一定程度上揭示了社会困境中阶层互动的实质,丰富了社会阶层心理学的相关研究。

Social class is a multifaceted construct rooted in both objective resources and subjective perceptions of socioeconomic status(SES) rank vis-à-vis others in society. An emerging body of research has shown that social class shapes both psychological experience and behavior of individuals. In daily life, people usually face conflicts between self-interest and group-interest, which refer to mixed-motive situations called social dilemmas. The optimal solution to those conflicts depends on mutual cooperation rather than mutual defection. To date, prior research has demonstrated that social class can affect how people balance the interest of themselves and others, and literature has mainly examined how individuals’ social class shapes their interaction with others. However, prior studies paid more attention to prosocial behavior such as helping and donating, with emphasis on the influence of self-social class on behavior. In this research, we explored the effect of both self-and target-social class on cooperative behavior, investigated how target-class moderated the relation between self-social class and cooperation, and tested the mediating role of state trust towards others in the moderation model.Accordingly, the present research consisted of two studies. In study 1, for the purpose of testing the effects of self-social class on cooperation, 236 college students took part in the survey and both their subjective and objective social class along with cooperative behavior were assessed. In study 2, ninty-four college students, with different levels of subjective and objective social class, were randomly assigned to high and low perceived targetsocial class priming conditions. Participants’ state trust and cooperative behavior towards the target were then measured in a give-some dilemma. The measurements of participants’ subjective and objective social class were identical to that in study 1.The results indicated that:(1) Lower class individuals were significantly more cooperative than upper class individuals, and both objective and subjective social class could predict individuals’ cooperative behavior;(2) The perceived target-social class played a significant role in moderating the cooperative behavior of individuals from different classes. To be more specific, when perceived target-class was low, lower class individuals would engage in more cooperative behavior than their higher class counterparts;however, when perceived target-class was high, individuals’ self-class would not predict their cooperative behavior,(3) The state trust towards the target mediated the moderating effect of target-class.The results partly support and expand the social cognitive theory of social class, suggesting that lower class individuals are more likely to focus on both self-and other-interests in order to survive and achieve life goals. This study also reveals that apart from self-social class, target-social class matters and people will perform differently when interacting with lower class targets. In addition, state trust can mediate the moderation effect of target-social class in the relation between self-social class and cooperative behavior. These findings are not only further theoretical explorations, but also notable suggestions to improve higher class individuals’ cooperative behavior, especially their cooperation with lower class targets.