By Sua Cho

Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University

doi.org/10.55894/dv2.24

Synopsis

Humans typically desire high status (i.e., leadership roles), but only when they believe they are useful to the group. In this paper, the author explores whether self-esteem and various personality traits influence the status people prefer when they believe they are useless to the group. Because self-esteem is correlated with socioeconomic status, the results of this study have implications for socioeconomic inequalities.