ASSESSING STEREOTYPE CONTENT AND ACCURACY OF THE UPPER ECONOMIC CLASS: INTERPERSONAL WARMTH AND SOCIAL COMPETENCE DIMENSION

The present research aimed to assess the stereotype content of interpersonal warmth and social competence of the upper economic class among the non-upper and upper economic class individuals. The study also aimed to assess whether these stereotypes mapped onto actual traits of upper economic-class individuals. I recruited N = 192 participants (n = 96 non-upper economic class and n = 96 upper-economic class) to complete the implicit (Single Category Implicit Association Task, SC-IAT) and explicit (stereotype ratings) measures. Participants were also asked to complete inventories to examine the stereotype accuracy. The results showed that both groups rated upper economic class individuals significantly lower on the implicit measures than on the explicit measures. Non-upper economic class participants rated upper economic class individuals lower than the upper economic class participants. Regardless of the measure type (implicit or explicit), participants rated upper economic class individuals significantly higher in the social competence than interpersonal warmth experiment. While individuals from upper economic backgrounds showed stronger bias on implicit than explicit measures, participants from non-upper economic backgrounds showed more consistency between implicit and explicit measures. Yet participants showed a larger implicit-explicit attitudinal discrepancy on social competence compared to interpersonal warmth. However, there was no significant relationship between implicit and explicit measures for both interpersonal warmth and social competence dimensions. The stereotype accuracy analysis revealed limited alignment between perceptions and self-reported traits, specifically for interpersonal warmth, where participants underestimated the levels of interpersonal warmth in upper economic-class individuals. However, upper-economic class participants accurately matched the perception of social competence on the explicit measure. In reality, both non-upper and upper economic class individuals did not differ on the interpersonal warmth inventory, but the upper economic class participants showed higher scores on the social competence inventory than the non-upper economic class participants. This study broadens our understanding of the stereotype content of interpersonal warmth and social competence attributed to upper-class individuals. This study has implications for addressing class-based biases through diversity and inclusion initiatives.