Status Speeds Decisions? Cultural Differences in the Impact of Subjective Socioeconomic Status on Decision Difficulty Between China and the United States

Abstract

Decision difficulty refers to the perceived level of difficulty individuals experience when making decisions. This study investigates how subjective socioeconomic status (SES) relates to decision difficulty across cultural contexts, drawing on self-construal theory and the social cognitive theory of social class. Individuals with higher subjective SES may experience decision difficulty differently depending on culturally shaped self-construal and cognitive tendencies. Study 1 used questionnaires to examine the relationship between subjective SES and decision difficulty in Chinese and American samples. Studies 2 and 3 experimentally manipulated subjective SES and measured decision difficulty in consumer and social domains. Across all three studies, subjective SES negatively predicted decision difficulty in the Chinese sample, but positively predicted it in the American sample. These findings suggest that subjective SES and culture jointly influence how individuals experience decision difficulty.

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