A major life goal for many individuals is to climb the social hierarchy and attain a higher social status than the one they were born into. People's beliefs regarding the likelihood of moving up or down in social hierarchy (i.e., social mobility) can have a variety of downstream consequences (Day & Fiske, 2019). Across three studies, I examined whether people's perception of their own social mobility relate to motivation to pursue their goals. In Study 1, I found a positive relationship between personal social mobility beliefs and hope, a motivational state involving goal-oriented thoughts. Next, in order to test whether personal social mobility beliefs can causally increase people's motivation to pursue their goals, I developed a novel manipulation. The manipulation involved participants completing a test that purportedly assessed their personal likelihood of moving up in social status and provided false feedback regarding these chances (i.e., high vs low personal social mobility). In Study 2, I tested the viability of this manipulation, and in Study 3, I examined whether it would causally affect motivation for general goal pursuit, including hope. Although the manipulation successfully altered personal social mobility beliefs, it did not affect hope. I discuss the implications of these findings for research on mobility beliefs and personal outcomes.

Economic inequality has been of considerable interest to academics, citizens, and politicians worldwide for the past decade–and while economic inequality has attracted a considerable amount of research attention, it is only more recently that researchers have considered that economic inequality may have broader societal implications. However, while there is an increasingly clear picture of the varied ways in which economic inequality harms the fabric of society, there is a relatively poor understanding of the social psychological processes that are at work in unequal societies. This edited book aims to build on this emerging area of research by bringing together researchers who are at the forefront of this development and who can therefore provide timely insight to academics and practitioners who are grappling with the impact of economic inequality. This book will address questions relating to perceptions of inequality, mechanisms underlying effects of inequality, various consequences of inequality and the factors that contribute to the maintenance of inequality. The target audiences are students at advanced undergraduate or graduate level, as well as scholars and professionals in the field. The book fills a niche of both applied and practical relevance, strongly emphasizing theory and integration of different perspectives in social psychology. Given the broad interest in inequality within the social sciences, the book will be accessible to sociologists and political scientists as well as social, organizational, and developmental psychologists. The insights brought together in The Social Psychology of Inequality will contribute to a broader understanding of the far-reaching costs of inequality for the social health of a society and its citizens. "This edited volume brings together cutting-edge social psychological research addressing one of the most pressing issues of our times – economic inequality. Collectively, the chapters illuminate why inequality has negative effects on individuals and societies, when and for whom these negative effects are most likely to emerge, and the psychological mechanisms that maintain inequality. This comprehensive volume is an essential read for those interested in understanding and ameliorating inequality." -Brenda Major, Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California “This invaluable volume demonstrates the indispensable and powerful contribution that social psychologists can make to our understanding of societal inequality. For those outside of social psychology it provides a unique and comprehensive overview of what social psychology has to offer, and for social psychologists it is exemplary in demonstrating how to make a systematic contribution to the understanding of a hotly debated real-world issue. Scholars and students alike and from various disciplines will gain much from reading this fascinating and inspiring social psychological journey.” -Maykel Verkuyten, Professor in Interdisciplinary Social Science, University of Utrecht “The Social Psychology of Inequality offers a superb and timely social-psychological analysis of the causes and consequence of increasing wealth and income gaps. With its refreshingly international authorship, this volume offers profound insights into the cognitive and social mechanisms that help maintain, but potentially also to overcome, an economy that is rigged in favor of the wealthy. A new and stimulating voice, illustrating science in the service of a fairer and more democratic society.” -Anne Maass, Professor of Social Psychology, University of Padova “This volume assembles an impressive list of leading international scholars to address a timely and important issue, the causes and consequences of economic inequality. The approach to the topic is social psychological, but the editors and chapters make valuable connections to related literatures on socio-structural influences in allied disciplines, such as economics, political science, and sociology. The Social Psychology of Inequality offers cutting-edge insights into the psychological dynamics of inequality and novel synthesis of structural- and individual-level influences and outcomes of inequality. It should attract a wide audience and will set the agenda for research on economic inequality well into the future.” -John F. Dovidio, Carl Iver Hovland Professor of Psychology and Public Health, Yale University

The dissertation builds upon motivational and developmental theory regarding how societal and individual agency factors are associated with developmental outcomes in young adulthood. In particular, the dissertation increases our understanding of how young adults' beliefs systems are related with their career-related motivational strategies and progress or setbacks toward attaining their career goals through the construction of a theoretically grounded and empirically validated model. This model is developed through an examination of the following research questions. (1) How do young adults believe that socioeconomic status is attained in America by people in general, and for themselves personally? (2) How are young adults' beliefs about the fairness of the world related to their beliefs about how socioeconomic status is attained by other people in American society, and how are these beliefs subsequently related with the factors they identify as causal to their own socioeconomic status attainment? (3) How do young adults' beliefs about socioeconomic status attainment relate to their engagement with career- related goals? (4) How are young adults' career-related motivational strategies related to career development? and (5) How does an individual's career development influence her/his subsequent beliefs about socioeconomic status attainment? Data are drawn from two longitudinal studies of young adults during the university to post-university transition. Study 1 includes 140 participants, roughly half of whom are juniors and half seniors at the first assessment. Participants are assessed approximately every six months, for a total of four assessment points. Study 2 includes 282 participants who had just graduated from university at the first assessment. Participants are assessed roughly every two and a half months, for a total of four assessment points. The dissertation findings highlight the congruency of individuals' beliefs with their motivational strategies and career-related development. In addition, the results emphasize the adaptive flexibility of young adults' belief-motivation-development system, which allows individuals to engage with the pursuit of opportunity-congruent career goals and disengage when these goals appear unattainable. These findings build upon motivational and developmental theory, and provide an empirically validated model through which future research can further examine how young adults navigate the school-to-work transition.

This book integrates evidence from motivational and evolutionary science to explain the essential nature of human motivation. Scholars, professionals, leaders, and students in psychology, education, and business will learn how goal-life alignment and 'thriving with social purpose' can inspire optimal functioning and enhance life meaning.

Many Americans, holding fast to the American Dream and the promise of equal opportunity, claim that social class doesn't matter. Yet the ways we talk and dress, our interactions with authority figures, the degree of trust we place in strangers, our religious beliefs, our achievements, our senses of morality and of ourselves—all are marked by social class, a powerful factor affecting every domain of life. In Facing Social Class, social psychologists Susan Fiske and Hazel Rose Markus, and a team of sociologists, anthropologists, linguists, and legal scholars, examine the many ways we communicate our class position to others and how social class shapes our daily, face-to-face interactions—from casual exchanges to interactions at school, work, and home. Facing Social Class exposes the contradiction between the American ideal of equal opportunity and the harsh reality of growing inequality, and it shows how this tension is reflected in cultural ideas and values, institutional practices, everyday social interactions, and psychological tendencies. Contributor Joan Williams examines cultural differences between middle- and working-class people and shows how the cultural gap between social class groups can influence everything from voting practices and political beliefs to work habits, home life, and social behaviors. In a similar vein, Annette Lareau and Jessica McCrory Calarco analyze the cultural advantages or disadvantages exhibited by different classes in institutional settings, such as those between parents and teachers. They find that middle-class parents are better able to advocate effectively for their children in school than are working-class parents, who are less likely to challenge a teacher's authority. Michael Kraus, Michelle Rheinschmidt, and Paul Piff explore the subtle ways we signal class status in social situations. Conversational style and how close one person stands to another, for example, can influence the balance of power in a business interaction. Diana Sanchez and Julie Garcia even demonstrate that markers of low socioeconomic status such as incarceration or unemployment can influence whether individuals are categorized as white or black—a finding that underscores how race and class may work in tandem to shape advantage or disadvantage in social interactions. The United States has one of the highest levels of income inequality and one of the lowest levels of social mobility among industrialized nations, yet many Americans continue to buy into the myth that theirs is a classless society. Facing Social Class faces the reality of how social class operates in our daily lives, why it is so pervasive, and what can be done to alleviate its effects.

This volume covers the current status of research in the neurobiology of motivated behaviors in humans and other animals in healthy condition. This includes consideration of the psychological processes that drive motivated behavior and the anatomical, electrophysiological and neurochemical mechanisms which drive these processes and regulate behavioural output. The volume also includes chapters on pathological disturbances in motivation including apathy, or motivational deficit as well as addictions, the pathological misdirection of motivated behavior. As with the chapters on healthy motivational processes, the chapters on disease provide a comprehensive up to date review of the neurobiological abnormalities that underlie motivation, as determined by studies of patient populations as well as animal models of disease. The book closes with a section on recent developments in treatments for motivational disorders.

Work Across the Lifespan coalesces theoretical and empirical perspectives on aging and work. This volume examines a collection of human development theories that explain trajectories of change, including patterns of growth, maintenance, and decline across the adult lifespan. At its core, the lifespan perspective assumes a focus on aging as a continuous process of intraindividual change and goal-based self-regulation. In this text, the lifespan perspective serves as a lens for examining the complex relationship between aging and work. Integrating research from the fields of developmental psychology as well as industrial, work, and organizational psychology, this authoritative reference brings together the collective thinking of researchers who study work, careers, organizations, and aging. Summarizes key tenets of lifespan theories Applies lifespan theories to work, organizational life, and careers Examines age and work-related processes Provides an comprehensive lifespan perspective on work and aging Focuses on aging as a continuous intraindividual change process