Lay Theories of Social Status and Academic Outcomes among Low Socioeconomic Status College Students

Persistent academic achievement gaps exist between students from high and low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. As education represents the primary means to upward mobility, I propose that low SES students’ academic motivation—and, as a result, performance—should depend on the “lay theories” that they hold regarding the nature of social class—that is, whether they believe that one’s socioeconomic standing is fixed or malleable. To examine this possibility, this application proposes two studies in which students’ lay theories are experimentally manipulated before their academic motivation and performance are assessed.