Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2011 May;100(5):838-52. doi: 10.1037/a0021956.
In four studies, the authors investigated the proposal that in the context of an elite university, individuals from relatively lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds possess a stigmatized identity and, as such, experience (a) concerns regarding their academic fit and (b) self-regulatory depletion as a result of managing these concerns. Study 1, a correlational study, revealed the predicted associations between SES, concerns about academic fit, and self-regulatory strength. Results from Studies 2 and 3 suggested that self-presentation involving the academic domain is depleting for lower (but not higher) SES students: After a self-presentation task about academic achievement, lower SES students consumed more candy (Study 2) and exhibited poorer Stroop performance (Study 3) relative to their higher SES peers; in contrast, the groups did not differ after discussing a nonacademic topic (Study 3). Study 4 revealed the potential for eliminating the SES group difference in depletion via a social comparison manipulation. Taken together, these studies support the hypothesis that managing concerns about marginality can have deleterious consequences for self-regulatory resources.
在四项研究中，作者研究了这样一种假设，即在精英大学的背景下，来自相对较低社会经济地位（SES）背景的个体具有受污名化的身份，因此会经历（a）对其学术适应性的担忧，以及（b）由于应对这些担忧而导致的自我调节耗竭。第一项研究是一项相关性研究，揭示了 SES、对学术适应性的担忧和自我调节强度之间的预期关联。研究 2 和 3 的结果表明，涉及学术领域的自我呈现会消耗较低 SES（但不是较高 SES）学生的精力：在关于学术成就的自我呈现任务之后，较低 SES 的学生比其较高 SES 的同龄人消耗更多的糖果（研究 2），并且在 Stroop 表现（研究 3）上表现更差；相比之下，两组在讨论非学术话题后没有差异（研究 3）。研究 4 通过社会比较操纵揭示了消除 SES 群体在消耗方面差异的潜力。总之，这些研究支持了这样一种假设，即管理边缘化的担忧可能会对自我调节资源产生有害影响。
