The Influence Of Social Class And Its Change On Risk Decision-making

Risky decisions are decisions that are made when the outcome is uncertain and there is a risk to be taken.In life risky decisions are all the time and every decision and choice made by individuals in real life is a risky decision.The study of this phenomenon has an important role to play in promoting quality individual decision-making and social development.Social class refers to an individual’s perception of his or her relative status when compared to others in the group according to certain criteria(e.g.,prestige,wealth,and power).Although previous studies have explored the relationship between social class and risky decision making,these studies have reached inconsistent conclusions,probably because previous studies have not considered different dimensions of social class.In addition,in real life,as individuals learn and work,the acquired social class changes,and this change can affect individuals’ risky decisions.However,few studies have examined the impact of social class changes on risky decision making.It has been shown that individuals with low social class feel a lower sense of control than those with medium to high class,and that lack of control leads to more risk-averse behavior;a sense of economic scarcity in risky decision making promotes individuals to choose high-risk and high-reward options,and individuals with a lack of money have more impulsive and risky behavior.Therefore,we infer that different dimensions of social class and its changes will have different effects on individuals’ risky decisions.Specifically,individuals with high prestige based social class and individuals with rising social class will feel more control and thus more risky in risky decisions,while individuals with low wealth based social class and individuals with falling social class will feel more scarcity and thus more risky in risky decisions.This study manipulated subjects’ reputation-based and wealth-based social class and their changes in a laboratory situation using the rankings of subjects in a simulated Raven’s Reasoning Contest and a point comparison contest,respectively,to explore the effects of different dimensions of individual social class and their changes on risky decision making.Experiment 1 explored the effects of different dimensions of social class and its changes on risky decision making.Experiment 1a(N=86)initially explored the effect of prestige based social class and its changes on individuals’ risky decisions.A 3 × 2mixed design was used,with the between-subjects variable being social class change(rank up,rank constant,rank down)and the within-subjects variable being the number of rounds(first and second rounds).The dependent variable was the individual’s level of risk-taking in risky decision making.The manipulation of the subject’s social class change was achieved by assigning the subject a specific social class in each round of the Raven’s reasoning task(2 rounds,2 assignments in total).After each round of rank presentation,subjects were asked to play a balloon simulation risk game with 10 balloons in each round of the balloon task,which was used to measure the risk-taking level of subjects’ risky decisions,as indicated by the average number of unexploded balloons inflated in the balloon simulation risk game.The data showed: a significant prestige-based social class main effect,i.e.,higher-ranked individuals took more risks in their risky decisions than lower-ranked individuals;a significant prestige-based social class change main effect,with the rising social class group taking more risks than the declining social class group.Experiment 1b(N=87)initially explored the effect of wealth-based social class and its rank change on individuals’ risky decisions.The experimental design and procedure of Experiment 1b were basically the same as those of Experiment 1a,with the difference being the manipulation of social class.1b used a point comparison to assign subjects a certain amount of money,thus manipulating the wealth-based social class.The results showed that the main effect of wealth-based social class was significant,and the risk-taking level of risky decisions was lower for high-ranking individuals than for low-ranking individuals;the main effect of wealth-based social class change was significant,and the risk-taking level was higher for the group with decreasing social class than for the group with increasing social class.Experiment 2 explored the factors that play a role in the influence of different dimensions of social rank and its changes on risky decisions.Experiment 2a explored the role of the sense of control in prestige based social rank and its changes,and Experiment 2b explored the role of the sense of scarcity in wealth based social class and its changes.The process of Experiment 2a(N=92)was essentially the same as that of Experiment 1a.The difference is that Experiment 2a manipulated subjects’ sense of control using a recall paradigm after the second round of Raven’s reasoning by having half of the subjects recall events with a high sense of control and half recall neutral events;in addition,Experiment 2a tested for manipulation of subjects’ perceived sense of control in the recall task after all tasks were completed,and no longer measured subjects’ perceived sense of control and scarcity after Raven’s reasoning.Experiment 2a used a three-factor(direction of social class change: rank up,rank down)× number of rounds(first round,second round)× sense of control(high sense of control,baseline)mixed experimental design,with the between-subjects variables being social class change and sense of control and the within-subjects variable being number of rounds.The dependent variable was the risk-taking level of risky decisions.The results showed a significant main effect of sense of control,i.e.,individuals with high sense of control had higher levels of risky decision risk-taking than individuals in the baseline group,and the group with decreasing social class showed higher levels of risk-taking after the second round of increased sense of control.The process in Experiment 2b(N=93)was essentially the same as in Experiment 2a.The difference was that experiment 2b manipulated subjects’ sense of scarcity using a recall paradigm after the second round of point comparison.The results of Experiment 2a showed a significant main effect of scarcity,i.e.,individuals with high scarcity had higher levels of risky decision risk-taking than individuals in the baseline group,and the group with rising social class showed higher levels of risk-taking after the second round of increased scarcity.In summary,this study reveals the effects of different dimensions of social class and its changes on risky decision making.High social class based on prestige and rising class generate more sense of control,which leads individuals to be more risky in risky decisions;low social class based on wealth and falling rank generate more sense of scarcity,which leads individuals to be more risky in risky decisions.This study provides new ideas for the study of the relationship between different dimensions of social class and its changes and risky decision making.