title: Experimental Evidence That Low Social Status is Most Toxic to Well-being When Internalized.
abstract: What makes low social status toxic to well-being? Tointernalizesocial status is to believe the self is responsible for it. We hypothesized that the more people internalize low subjective social status, the more their basic psychological needs are thwarted. Experiment 1 randomly assigned participants to imagine themselves in low, middle, or high social status and assessed their subjective social status internalization by independent ratings. The more participants internalized low status, the more they reported their basic psychological needs were thwarted. This effect did not appear among their higher status counterparts. Experiment 2 replicated and extended these findings using a behavioral manipulation of subjective social status and a self-report measure of internalization. We discuss implications for basic and action research.
authors.affiliation: Smith College.
authors.forename: Benita
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: Duke University.
authors.forename: Laura Smart
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Richman
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan.
authors.forename: Onawa
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: LaBelle
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Madeleine S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lempereur
authors.affiliation: San Diego State University.
authors.forename: Jean M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Twenge
keywords: Basic Psychological Needs; Internalization; Social Status; Subjective Social Status; Well-being