Abstract: Economic inequality is one of the most pressing issues in many countries, not only in the developing but also in the developed countries. Thus, it has received growing public and scientific attention. Economic inequality is costly; however, people seem prefer somewhat inequality. For example, when asking people about the ideal distribution of wealth in their country, they actually prefer some unequal distributions. People also have policy debates ranging from taxation to welfare that aiming to reduce economic inequality. Why? What mechanisms explain this acceptance and tolerance of economic inequality? Based on the perspective of social psychology, in this review, we suggested a dual pathway model: how people perceive and evaluate economic inequality (i.e., cognitive path), and their anticipated benefits of inequality (i.e., motive path) could explain why they tend to tolerant inequality and to ignore the problems caused by economic inequality. In the cognitive path, first, people often estimate that their societies are far more equal than the actual level of economic inequality. The underestimated perception of (but not actual) inequality could predict more acceptance of economic inequality and less supportive of redistribution. Thus, we suggest that people underestimate the actual levels of wealth and income inequality, and this “underestimated inequality” can be regarded as a mechanism for why people are somewhat tolerant of economic inequality. Second, people tend to believe that inequality is fair, which comes from (a) a fair system and (b) individual differences in ability, personal effort, and success. Such beliefs would lead people to be insensitive to economic inequality, to consider current economic distribution as fair, and thus in turn to accept rather than oppose inequality. Indeed, evidence suggests that people are more likely to accept and maintain economic inequality when they have a tendency to legitimate the social system or when they attribute the inequality to personal characteristics, such as abilities, effort, or person choices. In the motive path, we suggested that people tend to anticipate that they would have more benefits from economic inequality, which leads them to be more likely to tolerant economic inequality. For example, evidence shows that people are more willing to tolerate inequality and to oppose to redistribution when they anticipate to have greater upward rather than downward income mobility for themselves and their children. Also, research on social class indicates that occupying advantageous positions on hierarchies related to resources, higher social class individuals tend to be less sensitive towards inequality and be more favorable to their own interests. Given this evidence, we suggest that the tolerance of economic inequality might be also motivated by selfish-related motivations. Before closing, we should briefly outline some potential avenues for future research. First, we should clarify whether people really concern about economic inequality rather than unfairness issue, poverty issue, or social conflicts stems from the inequality. Second, we should examine the relations between the cognitive and motive paths and to understand how these relations influence people’s attitude towards economic inequality. Third, we should explore interventions that would encourage people to support social policy that helps to reduce economic inequality.

Key words: economic inequality, perceptions of inequality, fairness, self-interest, a dual pathway model

摘要： 不断加剧的经济不平等问题对个体和社会有着巨大危害，然而人们对经济不平等却有着较高的容忍性。基于个体心理的研究证据，本文提出认知和动机双重路径模型来解释个体容忍和支持经济不平等问题。在认知路径上，个体倾向于低估当前社会的经济不平等程度和将经济不平等评价为公平的；在动机路径上，个体预期经济不平等将带来自我利益的增加。未来研究应进一步整合多重心理机制间的关系，并探索有效干预手段以增加人们对减少经济不平等的支持。

关键词: 经济不平等, 不平等知觉, 公平, 自利, 认知-动机双重路径