If you're a member of America's anxious middle class, you can feel downtrodden one minute and privileged the next, just watching the news. Here's some super-rich guy planning his run for President, way above you on the social ladder. Next, a story about destitute refugees, which reminds you that you're many rungs above the worst-off. Does that matter? Yes, if this study in October's Psychological Science is right. It suggests people's "emotional intelligence" is keener when they feel humble and low-class, while feeling elite makes people less emotionally alert.
