ISSN 0439-755X
CN 11-1911/B
主办:中国心理学会
   中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

心理学报 ›› 2016, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (11): 1467-1478.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2016.01467

• 论文 • 上一篇    下一篇

低阶层者的系统合理化水平更高吗? ——基于社会认知视角的考察

杨沈龙1; 郭永玉1; 胡小勇1,2; 舒首立1,3; 李 静1   

  1. (1华中师范大学心理学院, 青少年网络心理与行为教育部重点实验室, 人的发展与心理健康湖北省重点实验室, 武汉 430079) (2西南大学心理学部, 重庆 400715) (3安徽师范大学教育科学学院, 芜湖 241000)
  • 收稿日期:2016-01-27 发布日期:2016-11-25 出版日期:2016-11-25
  • 通讯作者: 郭永玉, E-mail: yyguo@mail.ccnu.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:

    国家自然科学基金面上项目(71171094), 国家社会科学基金重点项目(13AZD087), 华中师范大学中央高校基本科研业务费(人文社科类)重大培育项目之重大学术成果培育计划(CCNU14Z02018)资助。

Do lower class individuals possess higher levels of system justification? An examination from the social cognitive perspectives

YANG Shenlong1; GUO Yongyu1; HU Xiaoyong1,2; SHU Shouli1,3; LI Jing1   

  1. (1 School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, and Hubei Human Development and Mental Health Key Laboratory, Wuhan 430079, China) (2 Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China) (3 School of Educational Science, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241000, China)
  • Received:2016-01-27 Online:2016-11-25 Published:2016-11-25
  • Contact: GUO Yongyu, E-mail: yyguo@mail.ccnu.edu.cn

摘要:

系统合理化理论曾提出, 低阶层者比高阶层者具有更高的系统合理化水平, 即更认可社会体系的合理性、更支持当前社会系统。但这一论断一直存在争议。研究引入社会认知视角, 考察低阶层与高阶层者系统合理化水平的差异及其机制。两个分研究得到了共同的结果:(1)低阶层者的系统合理化水平显著低于高阶层者; (2)这一差异是通过贫富归因的中介作用实现的, 低阶层者系统合理化水平较低是基于其更少地认为社会贫富差距是由个人内部因素所致; (3)这一中介作用会受到个体控制感水平的调节, 当控制感较低时, 上述中介作用成立; 但当控制感较高时, 低阶层会弥合与高阶层贫富归因的差异, 中介模型不成立。这些结果支持并发展了系统合理化的认知途径解释和阶层社会认知理论这两个立足于社会认知的理论观点, 显示了认知因素在此问题中的重要作用, 构建了更整合的阶层—归因—合理化的逻辑, 并考虑了其边界因素, 对于了解低阶层者的社会心态及其形成机制, 包括如何改变此状况, 均有一定的现实启示意义。

关键词: 社会阶层, 系统合理化, 贫富归因, 控制感, 社会认知

Abstract:

According to system justification theory, lower class individuals are more likely to view social system as legitimate than those from higher class. Yet, the opposite pattern emerged in many empirical studies suggesting that system justification was stronger among individuals from higher class relative to lower class counterparts. Recently, a cognitive perspective of system justification theory proposes that people express a salient tendency of internal attribution when explaining socioeconomic disparities, which serves as a main source of system justification. Given the fact that individuals from lower social class are characterized by contextualized cognitive style and external attribution, they may attribute socioeconomic disparities to external factors, and thereby are less likely to support the social system. Thus, we expected that 1) one’s social class was positively correlated with system justification, and 2) an internal attribution for the gap between the rich and the poor played a mediating role. Moreover, studies derived from social cognitive theory of social class demonstrate that the increase in perceived control have potential to help lower class individuals shift their attributional styles from external to internal. We further hypothesized that 3) perceived control could moderate the mediation model proposed in hypothesis 2. Two studies were designed to test these three hypotheses with different strategies. In Study 1, 241 college students with different levels of subjective social class were randomly assigned into high or low perceived control priming conditions, and then assessed their attributional tendency regarding the rich-poor gap and system justification, so that the moderating effect of perceived control on the mediation model could be tested. In study 2, 829 college students from four universities of different levels received scales of social class, perceived control, attributional style for the rich-poor gap and system justification to examine the hypothesized relationships in their actual lives. The results supported all of the three hypotheses. Firstly, social class was positively associated with system justification. That is, lower social class individuals exhibited fewer tendencies to support the social system. Secondly, attributional tendency for the rich-poor gap mediated this relationship between social class and system justification. Lower class individuals were less likely to attribute the disparities between the rich and the poor to internal factors (e.g., personal striving, ability), and also displayed lower level of system justification. Thirdly, the hypothesized moderated mediation model was also supported; that is, the mediating effect of attribution between social class and system justification was moderated by perceived control. When perceived control was low, the mediating effect was significant; however, when perceived control was high, lower class individuals’ internal attributional tendency would become as high as those of higher class, resulting in the absence of the mediation model. Both of the two studies supported consistenly all of the above hypotheses. These results support and expand the cognitive perspective of system justification theory, which emphasizes the cognitive basis of one’s system justification but fails to consider the differences between classes. This study also proposes an extension to the social cognitive theory of social class by combining different social classes’ social cognition with their system justification. In addition, the connection of the two theories forms a more comprehensive picture of class, cognition, and justification. Therefore, the present research is based on social cognitive perspectives. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that perceived control can moderate the mediation model. This is not only a further theoretical exploration, but a noteworthy suggestion for social governance that lower class individuals’ internal attribution and system justification can be altered by an increased sense of mastery of themselves and a decreased sense of restriction from the society.

Key words: social class, system justification, attribution for the gap between the rich and the poor, perceived control, social cognition