Race‐based shifting standards of SES: Potential moderators and implications

Abstract

AbstractWe report three studies investigating race‐based shifts in interpersonal judgments of SES, investigating potential racism‐related correlates and implications for social judgments. Study 1 examined differences in these race‐based shifts based on respondent race and SES, as well as social dominance orientation, while Study 2 investigated differences based on explicit racial prejudice and motivations to control prejudiced responses. While replicating the shifting standards effect, we observed no relation between either the demographic or prejudice measures and the shifting standards effect. Study 3 used individual differences in the tendency to make these race‐based shifts to predict discriminatory judgments in monetary expectations. Overall, the results supported individual tendencies to make race‐based shifts in judgments of another's SES, and suggest this shift is largely independent of several prominent racial prejudice constructs and predicts potentially discriminatory behaviour. The results are discussed in their implications for interracial and interclass interactions and discriminatory judgments.