The Social Origins of Effort: How Incentives Reduce Socioeconomic Disparities among Children
American Sociological Review · 2026 · Jonas Radl、William Foley、Lea Katharina Kröger、Patricia Lorente、Alberto Palacios-Abad、Heike Solga
中文摘要
认知努力（即为完成任务而调动心理资源）对于机会平等与贤能主义至关重要，因为它集中体现了个体的能动性。然而，关于努力之社会不平等的社会学理论稀缺且不完整，而现有的努力实证测量既不可靠又缺乏效度。我们通过以下方式填补这一空白：（1）阐述一种关于社会经济地位（SES）如何影响儿童认知努力的理论解释；（2）开发一种新的研究设计，使用简单却要求较高的行为任务并变化激励条件来测量努力；（3）基于这一实验室设计呈现证据，样本包括1,360名五年级学生。我们提出理论预期：更高的物质充裕度和更低的环境威胁降低了高SES儿童付出努力的主观成本，而强调自主性的父母社会化相较低SES儿童赋予他们更多内在动机。相反，我们假定低SES儿童的努力更容易受到物质与地位奖励的影响。与我们预期一致，我们发现社会出身对努力的影响在缺乏激励时最大，而在引入物质激励后显著减小。尽管社会出身对努力的影响出人意料地温和且可塑，它们仍对个体能动性的自愿主义观念构成挑战。然而关键在于，提供有形的绩效奖励能够显著缩小努力方面的社会经济差距。
Abstract
Cognitive effort (i.e., the mobilization of mental resources for task performance) is essential to equality of opportunity and meritocracy because it epitomizes individual agency. However, sociological theories of social inequality in effort are scarce and partial, and available empirical measures of effort are unreliable and lack validity. We fill this lacuna by (1) elaborating a theoretical account of how socioeconomic status (SES) affects children’s cognitive effort, (2) developing a novel research design for measuring effort using simple-yet-demanding behavioral tasks and varying incentive conditions, and (3) presenting evidence based on this laboratory design featuring 1,360 5th-grade students. We theorize that greater material abundance and lower environmental threat reduce the subjective costs of exerting effort for higher-SES children, and that parental socialization emphasizing autonomy gives them more intrinsic motivation compared to lower-SES children. Conversely, we posit that the effort of lower-SES children is more susceptible to material and status rewards. Supporting our expectations, we find that social origin effects on effort are largest when incentives are absent, yet decrease notably when material incentives are introduced. Albeit surprisingly modest and malleable, social origin effects on effort challenge voluntaristic notions of individual agency. Crucially though, providing tangible performance rewards can significantly narrow socioeconomic disparities in effort.