About this paper symposium

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Panel information
Panel 20. Social Cognition

Paper #1
Children’s beliefs about chances of moving up the social ladder
Author information	Role
Jacqueline Beck, UCIrvine, United States	Presenting author
Nadia Chernyak, UCIrvine, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
The idea of social mobility is a critical part of the “American Dream”. Yet, despite the prevalent cultural narrative about the possibility of change in socioeconomic status, actual social mobility remains low. Given that social mobility beliefs have a host of downstream social consequences, including system justification beliefs (Day & Fiske, 2016), and pursuit of higher education (Harris, 2008), it is important to study the development of these beliefs. Across three studies, we investigated the development of children’s beliefs about social mobility for both others and themselves. In the first set of studies (ChildAge: 3-10 years., N=224; AdultAge: 18-78 years, N=300), participants were introduced to financially disadvantaged groups and asked about their social mobility beliefs (the extent to which they believed members of the disadvantaged group could become rich) and fairness beliefs (the extent to which they believed the status quo was fair). Participants were then randomly assigned to view evidence of social mobility in one of three conditions, 1/10, 5/10, and 1/2 conditions, each of which represented the number of individuals from the disadvantaged group who eventually became wealthy. We then assessed their beliefs again at post-test to compare their beliefs from pre-test. Children and adults generally had low baseline social mobility beliefs before manipulation: they tended to believe strongly that people cannot change socio-economic groups and also that it was unfair that the poor were poor. After the manipulation, children and adults had increased social mobility beliefs. However, while adults rationally responded to the evidence shown – social mobility beliefs increased significantly more in 5/10 and 1/2 Conditions than in 1/10 Condition – children’s social mobility beliefs increased similarly across all conditions, suggesting that even one example of a poor person becoming rich was sufficient to induce change in social mobility beliefs. Thus, we found that children are hypersensitive to evidence of social mobility: even one example of social mobility increases their beliefs in social mobility and their corresponding beliefs about fairness surrounding economic inequality. In the next set of studies (5- to 10-year-olds; N=100), we examined the extent to which children believe in their own social mobility. Children from an income-diverse sample (household income Range: $0-$500,000; Median: $57,000) completed a MacArthur Social Status Ladder task about their families presently and their families in the future. Children generally showed social mobility for themselves: children believed their future status to be higher than their current status. In addition, when comparing children’s attitudes toward their desired future jobs and their attitudes toward their parents’ jobs, children tended to believe their future job would be higher in status than their parent’s jobs. We also explored whether demographic factors could predict children’s attitudes toward their own social mobility and found that those who had parents with higher education level believed in more social mobility and those who were from higher SES backgrounds believed in less social mobility about themselves. Overall, while children show low social mobility beliefs for others, children show high social mobility beliefs for themselves.

Paper #2
Children’s awareness of disparities in social mobility based on race and heritage country
Author information	Role
Yuchen Tian, Boston University, United States	Presenting author
Xiaoping Yu, Macalester College, United States	Non-presenting author
Oluchi Ukairo, University of Massachusetts Amherst, United States	Non-presenting author
Tara M. Mandalaywala, Boston University, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
There are dramatic gaps in upward social mobility between Black and White people in America; while 53% of Black people born in an impoverished family remain in poverty as adults, only 33% of White people show a similar pattern (Chetty et al., 2019; Pew, 2012). Moreover, immigrants from many heritage countries face structural barriers that inhibit upward mobility (e.g., discrimination, language differences: Migration Policy Institute, 2023). American children between 5 – 12 years old are capable of reasoning about both social mobility (Tian et al., 2024) and race and nationality (e.g., Hussak & Cimpian, 2019; Mandalaywala et al., 2020), so do children’s beliefs about the likelihood of social mobility integrate ideas about challenges or opportunities facing people from different racial or national backgrounds? Here, using a between-subjects design, we investigated the development of 4- to 9-year-old U.S. children’s awareness of disparities in social mobility based on race (N = 78, 38 girls) or heritage country (N = 82, 43 girls). Children were asked to rate the likelihood of upward mobility (as in Tian et al., 2024) for four American families of different races (White, Black, East Asian and Latine), or immigrant families from different heritage countries (Russia, Somalia, China and Mexico). After learning how to use a 9-rung ladder to represent socioeconomic status (SES), children were presented with a family near the bottom (3) or top (7) of the ladder. Children next saw each family experience upward mobility of two rungs (3 to 5 or 7 to 9) and were asked how frequently each mobility scenario was likely to occur, from 1(none of time) to 5 (all of the time). Children in the Race condition (Figure. 1) rated upward mobility more likely among White families than families of other races, (F(3, 532) = 7.19, p < .05) and, with age, children viewed upward mobility for Black families as less likely (F(3, 532) = 4.79, p < .05). There was no age-related change in children’s expectations of upward mobility for White, East Asian, or Latine’ upward social mobility. Children in the Heritage Country condition (Figure. 2) showed no main effect of country, but as children got older, they believed that upward mobility for both Russian (β = -0.12, SE = 0.05, p = .03) and Somalian (β = -0.15, SE = 0.05, p = .007) immigrants was less likely. There was no age-related change in children’s expectations of upward mobility for Chinese and Mexican immigrants. Across both conditions, we observed no evidence for intersectional thinking (i.e., an interaction of race (or heritage country) and SES) suggesting that children are either incapable of intersectional reasoning on this task, or that they viewed race (or heritage country) as more consequential than SES for social mobility. Our results also point toward the early development of anti-Blackness as children in both conditions viewed upward mobility as less likely for Black targets (Black Americans or immigrants from Somalia).

Paper #3
American children believe that immigrants will achieve upward mobility when effort matters and others care
Author information	Role
Laura Elenbaas, Ph.D., Purdue University, United States	Presenting author
Megan N. Norris, Purdue University, United States	Non-presenting author
Jane Singman, Purdue University, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
The U.S. is home to the largest immigrant population in the world (Ward & Batalova, 2023), yet children’s attitudes about immigrants have received less attention in the U.S. relative to other countries (Gönültaş & Mulvey, 2019). Currently available evidence shows a strong tendency for children to believe that people come to the U.S. to pursue opportunities and make a better life for themselves and their families (Brown & Lee, 2015), with mixed awareness of potential barriers that immigrants face in pursuing those aims (Elenbaas et al., 2024). The goal of this study was to apply the social reasoning developmental model (Elenbaas et al., 2020), a theory that has been useful for explaining developing beliefs about societal fairness, to the new context of beliefs about social mobility. Specifically, this study tested associations between 8- to 11-year-old self-identified American children’s perceptions of social inequalities between immigrants and Americans and their beliefs about upward social mobility for immigrant groups in the U.S. Overall, children (n = 114 of N = 220, 65% girls, 67% White, SSS M = 6.94, 4% first-generation, 11% second-generation) perceived moderate inequalities in resources (M = 4.25, e.g., good jobs), power (M = 4.46, e.g., make the rules), and status (M = 4.12, e.g., looked up to) between U.S.-born Americans and recent immigrants from six countries (Mexico, China, India, El Salvador, Nigeria, Poland). They perceived that these inequalities had a mix of individual (M = 3.61, α = .77, e.g., effort) and structural (M = 4.30, α = .61, e.g., opportunities) causes and moderately acceptable consequences (M = 2.98, α = .69) that other Americans “kind of” cared about (M = 4.31, α = .77). Children were mixed in their beliefs about how easy or hard it would be for immigrants to achieve upward mobility in the U.S. in terms of resources (M = 3.38, e.g., more money), power (M = 3.73, e.g., in charge of more things), and status (M = 3.42, e.g., more respect). However, as outlined in Figure 1, the more children perceived that current inequalities were caused by individual factors (e.g., intelligence) and that other Americans cared about these inequalities, the easier they thought it would be for immigrants to achieve upward mobility. By contrast, the more children perceived negative consequences (e.g., situation is bad for immigrants) and that other Americans did not care, the harder they thought it would be for immigrants to achieve upward mobility. No perceptions or beliefs differed significantly based on the group’s country of origin. In short, American children believed that immigrants would achieve upward mobility in the U.S. when they perceived that immigrants’ effort would pay off and other Americans cared about the issue. Overall, this study provides new, theoretically aligned evidence of children’s beliefs about the structure of their society, sheds light on American children’s thinking about immigration –an important but under-studied area– and advances developmental scientists’ understanding of middle childhood as a window of opportunity when some children move from noticing to questioning social inequalities.

Paper #4
Children’s reasoning about socioeconomic inequality and mobility
Author information	Role
Rachel Ann King, University of Chicago, United States	Presenting author
Isobel A. Heck, University of Rochester, United States	Non-presenting author
Isabella Ramkissoon, University of Chicago, United States	Non-presenting author
Molly Gibian, University of Chicago, United States	Non-presenting author
Katherine D. Kinzler, University of Chicago, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
Many Americans aspire to higher socioeconomic positions, but beliefs about social mobility – how difficult upward mobility is to achieve, how much control people have over their own socioeconomic positions – vary widely between individuals (Chetty et al., 2017; Kraus & Tan, 2015; Mijs, 2021). These differences in mobility beliefs affect people’s cognition and behavior in domains ranging from social attitudes (e.g., McCoy & Major, 2007) to political views (e.g., Mijs et al., 2022). When and how do beliefs about social mobility emerge? Here, we investigated the early roots of beliefs about social mobility and inequality, focusing on when in life these beliefs emerge and from where they stem. Across two studies, 5- to 12-year-old children (N = 293) viewed a ladder representing American society. In Study 1, children answered questions about the possibility of upward vs. downward social mobility. In Study 2, children answered questions about how people attain their socioeconomic positions. To understand where children may learn particular beliefs about socioeconomic mobility and inequality, we also compared children’s beliefs to the political beliefs of their parents. Study 1 assessed children’s mobility beliefs by examining when children come to understand that upward mobility is more difficult to achieve than downward mobility. With age, children increasingly rated upward (vs. downward) mobility as harder to achieve (β = .40, p < .01) regardless of their parents’ political views (interaction ps > .09), reflecting an awareness of real-world social mobility patterns. Study 2 tested children’s beliefs about how people attain high vs. low positions on the ladder – that is, sources of upward or downward mobility. We first examined children’s attributions of people’s positions to hard work vs. luck. Overall, children attributed both high and low positions to work over luck, and older children and children with more politically-conservative parents were especially likely to attribute high-level positions to hard work (βs > 0.15, ps < .01). Study 2 further tested whether children believe that people occupying different positions on the ladder is fair or unfair. Across ages (interaction ps > .39), children rated occupying top positions as fairer than occupying bottom positions on average (Mdif = 0.89, SDdif = 1.63), and this was especially true of children with more politically-conservative parents (β = .20, p = .01). The results of Study 1 demonstrate that children understand societal patterns of mobility – specifically, that upward mobility is more difficult to achieve than downward mobility. The results of Study 2 further suggest that children believe social mobility stems from people’s own efforts, and this emphasis on effort was especially common among older children and children raised in more politically-conservative households. Together, these results provide evidence that early in life, children learn about social mobility and inequality through both real-world mobility patterns and their parents’ beliefs, which may influence children’s development of sociopolitical views. These studies provide important insight into the developmental roots of, and mechanisms shaping, beliefs about social mobility – beliefs with widespread impacts on both individual and societal scales.

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