Jacinth Tan | University of California, San Francisco (original) (raw)
Papers by Jacinth Tan
Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 2017
By some accounts, global economic inequality is at its highest point on record. The pernicious ef... more By some accounts, global economic inequality is at its highest point on record. The pernicious effects of this broad societal trend are striking: Rising inequality is linked to poorer health and well-being across countries, continents, and cultures. The economic and psychological forces that perpetuate inequality continue to be studied, and in this theoretical review, we examine the role of daily experiences of economic inequality-the communication of social class signals between interaction partners-in this process. We theorize that social class signals activate social comparison processes that strengthen group boundaries between the haves and have nots in society. In particular, we argue that class signals are a frequent, rapid, and accurate component of person perception, and we provide new data and analyses demonstrating the accuracy of class signaling in 60-s interactions, Facebook photographs, and isolated recordings of brief speech. We suggest that barriers to the reduction o...
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 1047840x 2013 799989, Apr 1, 2013
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2010
... Yinping Yang1, Ya Hui Michelle See1,2, Andrew Ortony1,3, and Jacinth Jia Xin Tan2 1 Computati... more ... Yinping Yang1, Ya Hui Michelle See1,2, Andrew Ortony1,3, and Jacinth Jia Xin Tan2 1 Computational Cognition for Social Systems, Institute of High Performance Computing, Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR), Singapore 2 National University of ...
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2015
In this research we examine estimates of American social class mobility-the ability to move up or... more In this research we examine estimates of American social class mobility-the ability to move up or down in education and income status. Across studies, overestimates of class mobility were large and particularly likely among younger participants and those higher in subjective social class-both measured (Studies 1-3) and manipulated (Study 4). Class mobility overestimates were independent of general estimation errors (Study 3) and persisted after accounting for knowledge of class mobility assessed in terms of educational attainment and self-ratings. Experiments revealed that mobility overestimates were shaped by exposure to information about the genetic determinants of social class-a faux science article suggesting genetic constraints to economic advancement increased accuracy in class mobility estimates (Study 2)-and motivated by needs to protect the self-heightening the selfrelevance of class mobility increased overestimates (Study 3). Discussion focused on both the costs and benefits of overestimates of class mobility for individuals and society.
Psychological Inquiry, 2013
College Teaching, 2013
It was hypothesized that students' learning would be enhanced by an intervention getting them to ... more It was hypothesized that students' learning would be enhanced by an intervention getting them to elaborate on and restructure the notes they had taken in lecture. Students in a research methods course were randomly assigned to weeks in which they would turn in a copy of their restructured lecture notes along with a very brief summary of the class. This intervention required students to spend quality time-on-task. Subsequently, results of exam questions from weeks in which students completed the intervention were compared to weeks they did not do so. The intervention improved student performance by a full class grade (11 percent, effect size d = 1.1) and it improved performance equally for students at the top, bottom, and middle of the class.
The economic conditions of one’s life can profoundly and systematically influence health outcome... more The economic conditions of one’s life can profoundly and systematically influence health
outcomes over the life course. Our present research demonstrates that rejecting the notion
that social class categories are biologically determined—a non-essentialist belief—buffers
lower class individuals from poor self-rated health and negative affect, whereas conceiving of
social class categories as rooted in biology—an essentialist belief—does not. In Study 1,
lower-class individuals self-reported poorer health than upper-class individuals when they
endorsed essentialist beliefs, but showed no such difference when they rejected such beliefs.
Exposure to essentialist theories of social class also led lower-class individuals to report
greater feelings of negative self-conscious emotions (Studies 2 and 3), and perceive poorer
health (Study 3) than upper-class individuals, while exposure to non-essentialist theories did
not lead to such differences. Discussion considers how lay theories of social class potentially
shape long-term trajectories of health and affect of lower-class individuals.
Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 2017
By some accounts, global economic inequality is at its highest point on record. The pernicious ef... more By some accounts, global economic inequality is at its highest point on record. The pernicious effects of this broad societal trend are striking: Rising inequality is linked to poorer health and well-being across countries, continents, and cultures. The economic and psychological forces that perpetuate inequality continue to be studied, and in this theoretical review, we examine the role of daily experiences of economic inequality-the communication of social class signals between interaction partners-in this process. We theorize that social class signals activate social comparison processes that strengthen group boundaries between the haves and have nots in society. In particular, we argue that class signals are a frequent, rapid, and accurate component of person perception, and we provide new data and analyses demonstrating the accuracy of class signaling in 60-s interactions, Facebook photographs, and isolated recordings of brief speech. We suggest that barriers to the reduction o...
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 1047840x 2013 799989, Apr 1, 2013
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2010
... Yinping Yang1, Ya Hui Michelle See1,2, Andrew Ortony1,3, and Jacinth Jia Xin Tan2 1 Computati... more ... Yinping Yang1, Ya Hui Michelle See1,2, Andrew Ortony1,3, and Jacinth Jia Xin Tan2 1 Computational Cognition for Social Systems, Institute of High Performance Computing, Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR), Singapore 2 National University of ...
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2015
In this research we examine estimates of American social class mobility-the ability to move up or... more In this research we examine estimates of American social class mobility-the ability to move up or down in education and income status. Across studies, overestimates of class mobility were large and particularly likely among younger participants and those higher in subjective social class-both measured (Studies 1-3) and manipulated (Study 4). Class mobility overestimates were independent of general estimation errors (Study 3) and persisted after accounting for knowledge of class mobility assessed in terms of educational attainment and self-ratings. Experiments revealed that mobility overestimates were shaped by exposure to information about the genetic determinants of social class-a faux science article suggesting genetic constraints to economic advancement increased accuracy in class mobility estimates (Study 2)-and motivated by needs to protect the self-heightening the selfrelevance of class mobility increased overestimates (Study 3). Discussion focused on both the costs and benefits of overestimates of class mobility for individuals and society.
Psychological Inquiry, 2013
College Teaching, 2013
It was hypothesized that students' learning would be enhanced by an intervention getting them to ... more It was hypothesized that students' learning would be enhanced by an intervention getting them to elaborate on and restructure the notes they had taken in lecture. Students in a research methods course were randomly assigned to weeks in which they would turn in a copy of their restructured lecture notes along with a very brief summary of the class. This intervention required students to spend quality time-on-task. Subsequently, results of exam questions from weeks in which students completed the intervention were compared to weeks they did not do so. The intervention improved student performance by a full class grade (11 percent, effect size d = 1.1) and it improved performance equally for students at the top, bottom, and middle of the class.
The economic conditions of one’s life can profoundly and systematically influence health outcome... more The economic conditions of one’s life can profoundly and systematically influence health
outcomes over the life course. Our present research demonstrates that rejecting the notion
that social class categories are biologically determined—a non-essentialist belief—buffers
lower class individuals from poor self-rated health and negative affect, whereas conceiving of
social class categories as rooted in biology—an essentialist belief—does not. In Study 1,
lower-class individuals self-reported poorer health than upper-class individuals when they
endorsed essentialist beliefs, but showed no such difference when they rejected such beliefs.
Exposure to essentialist theories of social class also led lower-class individuals to report
greater feelings of negative self-conscious emotions (Studies 2 and 3), and perceive poorer
health (Study 3) than upper-class individuals, while exposure to non-essentialist theories did
not lead to such differences. Discussion considers how lay theories of social class potentially
shape long-term trajectories of health and affect of lower-class individuals.