Economic inequality is among the most pressing societal problems
impacting the health and well-being of Americans: inequality reduces
well-being—Americans report elevated happiness in years where economic
inequality is lower compared to years when it is higher (Oishi,
Kesebir, & Diener, 2011). As well, roughly 70% of studies examining
the health impacts of economic inequality find that societal health
worsens as economic inequality intensifies (Wilkinson & Pickett,
2006).When economic inequality deepens, society suffers. These trends
are the likely reason why President Barack Obama made reducing economic
inequality through increasing social class mobility a primary
theme in his 2014 State of the Union Address.Whether or not economic
policy changes take hold is likely to depend on a number of factors, among them the extent that Americans recognize, and are aware of,
the levels of actual social classmobility in society. This research was designed
to examine potential inaccuracies in judgments of classmobility.
Across four studies, we compared estimates of American social class
mobility to actual available data. We hypothesized that Americans
would overestimate levels of income mobility and educational access
in the United States. We predicted further that these estimates would
be heightened by a lack of awareness of the factors that influence
economic opportunity in society, and motivated by a desire to protect
the self.