Some Americans were more likely to overestimate social class mobility
than others, although these effects ranged from small to medium
in magnitude. Young participants (r's ranged from−.09 to−.19) exhibited
more exaggerated overestimates of social class mobility than their
older counterparts. We reason that this pattern is influenced by a lack
of exposure to class mobility information and by motivated reasoning.
Specifically, younger participants have less experience with social
class mobility and more motivation to believe that class mobility is possible
in the future. We also found evidence suggesting that higher perceived
social class (r's ranged from .04 to .27) is associated with
greater overestimates of social class mobility—suggesting that people
higher in perceived social class justify their elevated positions by
suggesting that those positions are attainable by all Americans. Importantly,
each experiment provided causal evidence for an informational
(Study 2) or motivational (Studies 3 and 4) account of class mobility
beliefs—that people overestimate class mobility because they lack
information about the causes of mobility, or because they seek to
protect the self.