Social class and wise reasoning about interpersonal conflicts across regions, persons and situations.

Justin P Brienza,Igor Grossmann

doi:10.1098/rspb.2017.1870

Abstract

We propose that class is inversely related to a propensity for using wise reasoning (recognizing limits of their knowledge, consider world in flux and change, acknowledges and integrate different perspectives) in interpersonal situations, contrary to established class advantage in abstract cognition. Two studies—an online survey from regions differing in economic affluence (n = 2 145) and a representative in-lab study with stratified sampling of adults from working and middle-class backgrounds (n = 299)—tested this proposition, indicating that higher social class consistently related to lower levels of wise reasoning across different levels of analysis, including regional and individual differences, and subjective construal of specific situations. The results held across personal and standardized hypothetical situations, across self-reported and observed wise reasoning, and when controlling for fluid and crystallized cognitive abilities. Consistent with an ecological framework, class differences in wise reasoning were specific to interpersonal (versus societal) conflicts. These findings suggest that higher social class weighs individuals down by providing the ecological constraints that undermine wise reasoning about interpersonal affairs.

Highlights

How do people of different social class vary in their reasoning style? For at least a century, this question has been at the core of scholarship on mental abilities [1,2]
Building on social class differences in attentional, social and socialization strategies, we propose that wise reasoning about interpersonal affairs may be more prevalent in lower- compared with higherclass environments, because it may enable navigation and management of uncertainties surrounding such environments [13,14]
To avoid bias due to classrelated differences in domain-specific knowledge, we focused on mundane interpersonal experiences both middle and working class people are likely to encounter in their lives, assessing wise reasoning about interpersonal conflicts

Summary

Introduction

How do people of different social class vary in their reasoning style? For at least a century, this question has been at the core of scholarship on mental abilities [1,2]. We advance an alternative account, with a focus on wisdom-related pragmatic reasoning [10,11] rather than abstract reasoning such as propositional logic [12] Central aspects of this reasoning style include intellectual humility, recognition that the world is in flux and changes, and the ability to take different contexts into account besides one’s own—factors philosophers have long associated with handling situations wisely [13,14,15,16]. The concept of wise reasoning has recently emerged in behavioural sciences [13,14,18], highlighting the combined utility of certain metacognitive strategies when navigating uncertainties people face in their lives [15] Such strategies include the appreciation of contexts broader than the immediate issue, sensitivity to the possibility of change in social relations, intellectual humility and search for a compromise between different points of view [14,19,20]. The present ecological framework further suggests that class differences in wise reasoning would be specific to the ecologically-relevant interpersonal domain (versus domain-general), functional for in-group coordination and other survival-related activities [30]

Study 1

Study 2

Findings

Discussion and conclusion