PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Upper-class people have trouble recognizing others' emotions

2010-11-23
(Press-News.org) Upper-class people have more educational opportunities, greater financial security, and better job prospects than people from lower social classes, but that doesn't mean they're more skilled at everything. A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds surprisingly, that lower-class people are better at reading the emotions of others.

The researchers were inspired by observing that, for lower-class people, success depends more on how much they can rely on other individuals. For example, if you can't afford to buy support services, such as daycare service for your children, you have to rely on your neighbors or relatives to watch the kids while you attend classes or run errands, says Michael W. Kraus of the University of California-San Francisco. He cowrote the study with Stéphane Côté of the University of Toronto and Dacher Keltner of the University of California-Berkeley.

One experiment used volunteers who worked at a university. Some had graduated from college and others had not; researchers used educational level as a proxy for social class. The volunteers did a test of emotion perception, in which they were instructed to look at pictures of faces and indicate which emotions each face was displaying. People with more education performed worse on the task than people with less education. In another study, university students who were of higher social standing (determined from each student's self-reported perceptions of his or her family's socioeconomic status) had a more difficult time accurately reading the emotions of a stranger during a group job interview.

These results suggest that people of upper-class status aren't very good at recognizing the emotions other people are feeling. The researchers speculate that this is because they can solve their problems, like the daycare example, without relying on others—they aren't as dependent on the people around them.

A final experiment found that, when people were made to feel that they were at a lower social class than they actually were, they got better at reading emotions. This shows that "it's not something ingrained in the individual," Kraus says. "It's the cultural context leading to these differences." He says this work helps show that stereotypes about the classes are wrong. "It's not that a lower-class person, no matter what, is going to be less intelligent than an upper-class person. It's all about the social context the person lives in, and the specific challenges the person faces. If you can shift the context even temporarily, social class differences in any number of behaviors can be eliminated."

### The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "Social Class, Contextualism, and Empathic Accuracy" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Keri Chiodo at 202-293-9300 or kchiodo@psychologicalscience.org.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Study could mean greater anticipated global warming

Study could mean greater anticipated global warming
2010-11-23
Current state-of-the-art global climate models predict substantial warming in response to increases in greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. The models, though, disagree widely in the magnitude of the warming we can expect. The disagreement among models is mainly due to the different representation of clouds. Some models predict that global mean cloud cover will increase in a warmer climate and the increased reflection of solar radiation will limit the predicted global warming. Other models predict reduced cloudiness and magnified warming. In a paper that has just appeared ...

Making stars: Studies show how cosmic dust and gas shape galaxy evolution

Making stars: Studies show how cosmic dust and gas shape galaxy evolution
2010-11-23
Astronomers find cosmic dust annoying when it blocks their view of the heavens, but without it the universe would be devoid of stars. Cosmic dust is the indispensable ingredient for making stars and for understanding how primordial diffuse gas clouds assemble themselves into full-blown galaxies. "Formation of galaxies is one of the biggest remaining questions in astrophysics," said Andrey Kravtsov, associate professor in astronomy & astrophysics at the University of Chicago. Astrophysicists are moving closer to answering that question, thanks to a combination of new ...

Virginia Tech engineers introduce thermotherapy as a chemotherapy alternative

Virginia Tech engineers introduce thermotherapy as a chemotherapy alternative
2010-11-23
Using hyperthermia, Virginia Tech engineering researchers and a colleague from India unveiled a new method to target and destroy cancerous cells. The research was presented at the 63rd annual meeting of the American Physical Society Nov. 23 in Long Beach, Calif. The cancer treatment uses hyperthermia to elevate the temperature of tumor cells, while keeping the surrounding healthy tissue at a lower degree of body heat. The investigators used both in vitro and in vivo experiments to confirm their findings. The collaborators are Monrudee Liangruksa, a Virginia Tech graduate ...

Registered dietitians play essential role in effective management of diabetes in adults

2010-11-23
St. Louis, MO, November 23, 2010 – Proper nutrition therapy is essential for the successful management of type 1 and type 2 diabetes and registered dietitians (RDs) can play a key role as part of the health care team. An article in the December issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association reviews the evidence and nutrition practice recommendations presented in the American Dietetic Association Nutrition Practice Guidelines for Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes in Adults. This complete and systematic review presents 29 key nutrition practice guidelines in order to ...

Wealth Masters Announces Two New Subsidiaries - Opes Partners; WMI Health and Nutrition

2010-11-23
Wealth Masters International, the world's premier wealth creation community, announces the formation of Opes Partners, LTD., a financial services and insurance company, and WMI Health and Nutrition, LTD., both wholly owned subsidiaries of Wealth Masters International, GP. Opes Partners - The Future of Wall Street Opes Partners (pronounced Op-us), Latin for Wealth and Abundance, will serve as WMI's phase one presence in the over $1 trillion insurance and financial services industry, first domestically in the U.S, before expanding into global markets during the second ...

Atlanta Airport Hotel Announces the Thanksgiving and Christmas Park, Stay and Go Package

2010-11-23
The Hampton Inn & Suites Atlanta Airport Hotel North I-85 offers the perfect Thanksgiving and Christmas Park, Stay, and Go package for guests. The package is ideal for those needing to leave their vehicle while on a trip this holiday season. The Park, Stay, and Go package includes one night accommodations and parking for 7 days. Additional days of parking can be added for a nominal fee. Parking at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which is the world's busiest airport, can be a hassle. This package is great because guests don't have to worry about ...

The PJ Lady Offers Top Quality Pajamas At the Lowest Price of the Year

The PJ Lady Offers Top Quality Pajamas At the Lowest Price of the Year
2010-11-23
Avoid the mall and warm up to our highest quality pajamas for women, men and children - and for a very limited time, the price just got even lower! Stay out of traffic when looking for Black Friday deals and get on the internet for Cyber Monday deals! Women love the PJ Lady's conversational print pajamas that fit so great, and teen girls go crazy over the new soft knit junior cut dorm pants. So comfortable they will want several pairs. Stop by www.pjlady.com for all your sleepwear needs. Our flannel pajamas and woven cotton pajamas for ladies, our loungepants for men, ...

Louisville, Kentucky Dentist, Christian Hahn, DDS, Volunteers in AACD's Give Back a Smile Program for Domestic Violence Survivors

2010-11-23
Louisville, Kentucky cosmetic dentist and AACD member, Christian Hahn, DDS, volunteers for the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry Charitable Foundation's Give Back a Smile (GBAS) program. This program is dedicated to healing the effects of domestic violence by providing free consultation and dental treatment to restore the smiles of survivors of domestic violence. "Through the Give Back a Smile program, AACD member dentists assist survivors by treating the dental injuries that were sustained from domestic violence, so that survivors may reclaim their smiles, their ...

Solohealth Expands Shopper Marketing and Digital Targeting Capabilities at Supermarket, Mass Merchants and Drug Shelves

2010-11-23
SoloHealth (www.solohealth.com), a recognized leader in self-directed health care, is expanding the ad targeting capabilities of its unique self-service health screening units to address challenges marketers face in impacting consumers at the point of shopping. The enhanced self-service health screening units will give shopper marketing initiatives the individual targeting of premium online media, combined with the interactivity and engagement of mobile, in local high-traffic retail environments across the U.S., only a few feet from product shelves. Enabled by a $1.2 MM ...

ITW Trans Tech Unveils the Latest in Printing Pads

2010-11-23
ITW Trans Tech has introduced a significant new advancement in pad printing convenience and efficiency. ExpressPadTM, developed over the last few years in response to customer input, is a revolutionary, yet simple, approach to a common pad printing set-up concern. ExpressPadTM, which allows users to replace pads with absolutely no tools, cuts replacement time while improving the preciseness and repeatability of pad placement. Well suited for both short and long run production jobs, ExpressPadTM is available in 60, 90, and 130mm configurations. "During product testing ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

The key to lowering your water bill may already be at your door

Saliva testing may reveal early signs of diabetes and obesity

4D images show heat shield damage goes below the surface

Hibernator “superpowers” may lie hidden in human DNA

Changes in diet drove physical evolution in early humans

Experts call for science- and evidence-based AI policy

Challenges in governing rapidly emerging marine-climate interventions

Slowdown in protein translation drives aging in the killifish brain

Behavior drives morphological change during primate evolution

Climate interventions to save our oceans need stronger governance, experts warn

Do you want to freeze a cloud? Desert dust might help

Nanodevice uses sound to sculpt light, paving the way for better displays and imaging

Twinkle, twinkle leopard seal: songs below the ice flow like nursery rhymes

Potato evolved from tomato 9 million years ago

MIT researchers show how the brain distinguishes 'things' from 'stuff'

Impact of the MISSION act on quality and outcomes of major cardiovascular procedures among veterans

Not all low-grade prostate cancers are low risk

GLP-1 RAs and risk of nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy in older patients with diabetes

The clinical practice guideline update on adult sinusitis emphasizes patient education, shared decision-making, and evidence-based treatment options

Big data begins to crack the cold case of endometriosis

This artificial sweetener could make cancer treatment less effective

Light-based listening: Researchers develop a low-cost visual microphone

Immunoglobulin replacement therapy shows no reduction in serious infections for patients with CLL

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus awarded one of the largest clinical trial grants in campus history to lead trauma study

Weather-tracking advances are revealing astonishing extremes of lightning

Grasses are spendthrifts, forests are budgeters, in a nuanced account of plant water use

"Scrumping" windfallen fruits and the origin of feasting

How ‘scrumping’ apes may have given us a taste for alcohol

Scrumped fruit key to chimpanzee life and a major force of human evolution

Scientists discover new quantum state at the intersection of exotic materials

[Press-News.org] Upper-class people have trouble recognizing others' emotions