Two pre-registered experiments (Total N = 822) explored the effect of economic inequality on social class stereotyping and the social mechanisms driving this relationship. In both experiments, participants were randomly assigned to a fictitious society with high or low levels of inequality and rated a wealthy and a poor individual on Vertical (i.e., assertiveness and competence) and Horizontal stereotype dimensions (i.e., friendliness and morality). We found that higher (versus lower) inequality caused both social classes to be perceived as more incompetent, immoral, and unfriendly, and the poor to be perceived as more unassertive. Moreover, we found that high (versus low) inequality caused stereotypes of the wealthy and poor to be more different on unique dimensions (i.e., in relation to the poor, the wealthy were stereotyped as more assertive, but also more unfriendly and immoral). Importantly, inequality affected the stereotype dimensions through distinct mechanisms. We found evidence of class-based categorization mediating the effect of inequality and social class stereotypes on the Vertical dimension, and evidence of negative intergroup relations (i.e., increased competition and reduced trust) explaining stereotypes on the Horizontal dimension. Further, we found that social class stereotypes influenced support for redistributive wealth policies. Our work contributes to the literature by identifying the mechanisms through which inequality affects perceptions of the social classes.

两个预先注册的实验（总共N = 822）探讨了经济不平等对社会阶级刻板印象的影响以及推动这种关系的社会机制。在这两个实验中，参与者被随机分配到一个不平等程度高或低的虚构社会，并在垂直（即自信和能力）和水平刻板印象维度（即友好和道德）上对富人和穷人进行评级。我们发现，更高（相对于更低）的不平等导致两个社会阶层被认为更无能、不道德和不友好，而穷人则被认为更不自信。此外，我们发现高（相对于低）不平等导致富人和穷人的刻板印象在独特的维度上更加不同（即，相对于穷人，富人被刻板印象为更自信，但也更不友好和不道德）。重要的是，不平等通过不同的机制影响刻板印象维度。我们发现基于阶级的分类在纵向维度上调节不平等和社会阶级刻板印象的影响的证据，以及在横向维度上解释刻板印象的负面群体间关系（即，竞争增加和信任减少）的证据。此外，我们发现社会阶层的刻板印象影响了对财富再分配政策的支持。我们的工作通过确定不平等影响社会阶级观念的机制为文献做出贡献。以及负面群体间关系（即竞争加剧和信任减少）的证据，解释了横向维度上的刻板印象。此外，我们发现社会阶层的刻板印象影响了对财富再分配政策的支持。我们的工作通过确定不平等影响社会阶级观念的机制为文献做出贡献。以及负面群体间关系（即竞争加剧和信任减少）的证据，解释了横向维度上的刻板印象。此外，我们发现社会阶层的刻板印象影响了对财富再分配政策的支持。我们的工作通过确定不平等影响社会阶级观念的机制为文献做出贡献。