A Social Climber? No, Not Me

A Social Climber? No, Not Me

Participants in a study consistently reported less striving for status in themselves than in others (5.02versus 5.66 on a 1-to-7 scale), suggesting that people don’t like to admit to this yearning, say Hee Young Kim of Rider University and Nathan C. Pettit of New York University. Although it is well accepted that people desire high status, striving for it is seen as stigmatizing. In fact, displaying a desire for status may undermine a person’s efforts to attain it, the researchers say.