Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, 3663 Zhongshan North Road, Putuo District, Shanghai, 200062, China.
Department of Psychology, Shanghai Normal University, 100 Guilin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai, 200234, China.
J Gambl Stud. 2019 Dec;35(4):1283-1302. doi: 10.1007/s10899-019-09827-2.
Through a series of three experiments, this study explored the possible influence of social class on the decision-making tendency of prestige-seeking in a Prestige-Money Game, and further explored the internal sources of such influence. In Experiment 1, the participants' social class was manipulated to examine whether there were class effects in prestige-seeking when individuals of different social classes were paired together in a Prestige-Money Game. In Experiment 2, social rank, which only contained ranking differences, was adopted as a more abstract proxy variable for social class to investigate whether class effects still existed in prestige-seeking in a Prestige-Money Game. Based on the results of Experiment 1 and 2, Experiment 3 further explored the sources of motivation for prestige-seeking among subjects of different social class. The results showed that upper-class individuals showed greater money-seeking tendencies when facing an upper-class opponent, and showed greater prestige-seeking tendencies when facing a lower-class opponent. Such tendencies were derived from social rank; instrumental value played a substantial role. The game strategy of lower-class individuals were mainly oriented toward their personal needs. Specifically, they showed greater prestige-seeking when facing an upper-class opponent, and showed greater money-seeking when facing a lower-class opponent. Such tendencies were derived from the activation of their social class identity; the role of instrumental value was limited. These findings suggest that the essential differences in the game tendencies of individuals from different social classes in a Prestige-Money Game may originate from the fact that different social classes have different demands for the instrumental value and social value of prestige.
本研究通过三个实验，探讨了社会阶层对声望寻求决策倾向的可能影响，并进一步探究了这种影响的内在来源。实验 1 通过操纵被试的社会阶层，考察了在声望金钱博弈中，不同社会阶层的个体配对时是否存在声望寻求的阶层效应。实验 2 采用仅包含排名差异的社会等级作为社会阶层的更抽象替代变量，进一步探讨了在声望金钱博弈中，声望寻求是否仍然存在阶层效应。基于实验 1 和实验 2 的结果，实验 3 进一步探究了不同社会阶层被试的声望寻求动机来源。结果表明，上层个体在面对上层对手时表现出更大的金钱寻求倾向，而在面对下层对手时表现出更大的声望寻求倾向。这种倾向源于社会等级；工具价值起着重要作用。下层个体的游戏策略主要以个人需求为导向。具体来说，他们在面对上层对手时表现出更大的声望寻求，而在面对下层对手时表现出更大的金钱寻求。这种倾向源于他们的社会阶层身份的激活；工具价值的作用有限。这些发现表明，不同社会阶层个体在声望金钱博弈中的游戏倾向的根本差异可能源于不同社会阶层对声望的工具价值和社会价值的不同需求。
