Abstract

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Title:: Socio-psychological and Behavioral Tendency of Lower-Class：A Review from Positive and Negative Perspectives

Keywords:: social class; lower-class; upper-class; socioeconomic status; social-cognitive approach

Abstract:: A class is a social group formed by some people who are differentiated from others accordingto their socioeconomic status and thus share the similar patterns of attitude，behavior，values and mentality.Previous studies usually focused on the negative effects produced by one’s membership of lower-class throughsuch indicators：physiological condition，ability to make social decisions，sense of control，perception ofdiscrimination，experience of stress，cognitive performance，and academic achievement. In fact，comparedwith upper-class，the positive effects produced by one’s membership of lower-class have attracted inadequateattention. These effects include such aspects as stronger faith in justice，better moral sense，more positiveemotional experience，greater social affinity，greater ability to make psychological adjustment，and betterself-monitoring. Through analyzing controversies over social class in the system justification theory，socialdominance theory，and local-ladder effect theory，we think that the future research can be done throughfocusing on the variables influencing class perception and the effect of induction paradigm，diversification ofpriming methods，adoption of neuro-cognitive perspective，cross-cultural differences and interference，whichcan enhance the advantages of lower-class and promote the positive transformation of its negative mentality.