The students were unanimous

The students were unanimous. And full of bravado. Of course they would honk. And they certainly wouldn’t make any distinction between the two cars. Some claimed they would honk sooner at the high-status car. But what actually happened on the roads that subsequent sunny Sunday morning told a different story. Whilst overall close to 70 percent of waiting drivers sounded their horns in frustration, the distribution of results was unevenly split between the two cars. Fewer than 50 percent honked at the high-status car; 84 percent hooted at the lower-status car. Not only was a Californian driver’s likelihood to honk influenced by the status of the car that was delaying them, but their latency to honk was influenced, too. When behind a low-status car, people would sound the horn much sooner than when behind a high-status one. Very often, more than once.

Everyone says status will have no effect on their horn. Then a cheap car sits at the green light and gets blasted. The luxury car receives a little diplomatic grace, as if its driver might own the road or the person waiting behind it. The hand tells the truth before the ego can brief the press office.

Watch the same courtesy appear around expensive suits and famous suppliers. A junior’s weak number gets challenged before the slide changes. The executive’s weak number earns three respectful questions and an invitation to “unpack the assumptions”. A new vendor must prove the screws in its chairs; a prestigious one is forgiven for delivering them upside down. We call this discernment because “status obedience” would make the culture survey awkward.

Asking people whether rank affects them is close to asking whether they are good-looking. You will mostly measure self-regard. Pair the answer with a moment carrying actual social cost. Who gets interrupted? Whose error becomes a character flaw? Who receives one more chance to explain? Measure delay as well as outcome; deference often hides in the extra seconds.

Reputation and experience can be useful evidence. Let them affect a judgement deliberately. The problem is granting status immunity while sincerely believing it had no influence. The horn is useful because it records the decision before our self-image tidies it up.