Higher social class is associated with a lower propensity of reasoning wisely in interpersonal situations. So sorry.

Depending on where you hail from, this new study might be disheartening reading. Even more so at the end of the year. For those in the lower strata of society, rejoice. At least according to this study:

Social class and wise reasoning about interpersonal conflicts across regions, persons and situations

Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Abstract

We propose that class is inversely related to a propensity for using wise reasoning (recognizing limits of their knowledge, consider world in flux and change, acknowledges and integrate different perspectives) in interpersonal situations, contrary to established class advantage in abstract cognition. Two studies—an online survey from regions differing in economic affluence (n = 2 145) and a representative in-lab study with stratified sampling of adults from working and middle-class backgrounds (n = 299)—tested this proposition, indicating that higher social class consistently related to lower levels of wise reasoning across different levels of analysis, including regional and individual differences, and subjective construal of specific situations. The results held across personal and standardized hypothetical situations, across self-reported and observed wise reasoning, and when controlling for fluid and crystallized cognitive abilities. Consistent with an ecological framework, class differences in wise reasoning were specific to interpersonal (versus societal) conflicts. These findings suggest that higher social class weighs individuals down by providing the ecological constraints that undermine wise reasoning about interpersonal affairs.

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These analyses indicated that the negative relationship between social class and wise reasoning was not due to the potentially greater motivation of lower-class individuals to perform well on the task, nor were they fully accounted by a general orientation toward and closeness to other people, despite some shared variance with the latter process.

The consistency of effects of social class on wise reasoning across the group, individual, and situational levels of analysis is noteworthy given the potential independence of how social class may impact psychological processes at different levels of analysis. First, the group-level results suggest that middle-class ecologies encourage less wise reasoning about interpersonal affairs than do working class ecologies (Study 1). In addition to such cultural-ecological differences, higher social class of an individual contributes to lower propensity to reason wisely about their interpersonal conflicts they encounter in their lives. In other words, above and beyond state differences in dominant social class ecology, individuals’ social class matters for their propensity for wise reasoning (Studies 1–2). Finally, situational effects explained unique variance in wise reasoning, showing that one is less likely to reason wisely when the other person involved in the situation is of lower status than oneself (Study 1). Overall, the triangulation across different levels of analysis paints an additive picture of social class ecology, individual differences and subjective experience of status in a given situation independently contributing to the propensity for wise reasoning.

You may be of higher social class, but you suck at reasoning wisely. Great news for those living in relative  poverty and "other threats". You may have just the right modicum to reason wisely.

The current work adds nuance to the research on group differences in reasoning. Past research has demonstrated that wise reasoning style can occur independently from abstract cognitive abilities [18,60]. Thus, while higher-class individuals may enjoy the cognitive benefits of status (e.g. environments that foster development in such areas as fluid cognition), those same environments may constrain their ability or motivation to reason wisely (e.g. acknowledge change, uncertainty, and the limits of their knowledge). Conversely, limited resources and other threats associated with lower class environments may promote wise reasoning about interpersonal affairs, enabling greater vigilance and management of uncertainty associated with such environments.

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