More Hardworking Than Smart: Nature and Origins of Stereotypes About Children From Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Backgrounds

Cultural narratives often portray children from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds as “strivers” or “go-getters” rather than naturally gifted. Could this reflect a more pervasive stereotype? Bridging insights from social and developmental psychology, we hypothesized that children endorse a stereotype that portrays children from low-SES backgrounds as more hardworking than smart—and that children acquire this stereotype, in part, through their parents. We tested this in a within-subjects experiment (October 2021, the Netherlands) involving children (N = 251, aged 8–13, 52% girls, 48% boys) and one of their parents (aged 29–59, 58% women, 42% men). As hypothesized, children perceived unfamiliar peers from low-SES backgrounds as more hardworking than intelligent. They attributed these peers’ success more to hard work than intelligence, and failure more to a lack of intelligence than a lack of hard work. Parents held similar stereotypes. Children’s stereotypes correlated with their parents’ (standardized b = 0.31), suggesting intergenerational transmission. Children had stronger stereotypes when their parents had higher SES or stronger essentialist beliefs about SES. These intergenerational pathways did not depend on children’s age. Together, results reveal an early emerging and intergenerationally transmitted stereotype that portrays children from low-SES backgrounds as more hardworking than smart. Seemingly positive portrayals of low-SES children as primarily hardworking may reflect and reinforce this stereotype.