Are Rich People Less Honest than Poor People

This is an interesting study by Paul Piff at UC Berkeley. Piff has been studying the effects of wealth on behavior, and has found that statistically (yes, there are exceptions, but this is about probability), people of wealth are ruder, less honest, less generous, and more likely to endorse unethical behavior than poor people.

Interestingly, this behavior tracks across political lines. Whether politically liberal or politically conservative, rich people display more rudeness and less honesty than poor people, whether those poor people are liberal or conservative.

Before you shoot the messenger take a look at the video in the link below:

http://www.upworthy.com/take-two-normal ... ext?c=ufb2

I'm interested in thoughtful comments. I don't want to get into any kind of (metaphorical) yelling match.

Very thought provoking. I'd be curious as to how 'Selfmade' men wealthy compare to golden spoon trust baby wealthy?

Poker

its been my own personal experience with both types they all would qualify for donkey of the year award. But mind you that is just my experience. I have heard of a few who are decent people but i like to reserve assessment on those.

Very thought provoking. I'd be curious as to how 'Selfmade' men wealthy compare to golden spoon trust baby wealthy?

And under the Selfmade label subdivide those who made most of their money by building a better widget, writing a best selling book etc vs those who made their money via manipulating the system (class action lawyers, wall street gurus, crony capitalists etc)

pokermind wrote:Very thought provoking. I'd be curious as to how 'Selfmade' men wealthy compare to golden spoon trust baby wealthy?

Poker

It was my impression from the description of the Monopoly game test that, at least in that test, the type of rich person being tested was the "golden spoon" type of rich person.

RHWoodman wrote:This is an interesting study by Paul Piff at UC Berkeley. Piff has been studying the effects of wealth on behavior, and has found that statistically (yes, there are exceptions, but this is about probability), people of wealth are ruder, less honest, less generous, and more likely to endorse unethical behavior than poor people.

Interestingly, this behavior tracks across political lines. Whether politically liberal or politically conservative, rich people display more rudeness and less honesty than poor people, whether those poor people are liberal or conservative.

Before you shoot the messenger take a look at the video in the link below:

http://www.upworthy.com/take-two-normal ... ext?c=ufb2

I'm interested in thoughtful comments. I don't want to get into any kind of (metaphorical) yelling match.

I'm not sure about individuals as I have known wealthy and poor that have both met and broken the pattern, but if you compare societies on a wealth basis in my opinion in a wealthy society individuals will generally be more honest and polite, more likely to give to charity and less likely to condone bad behavior than a less wealthy society.

No studies on that I'm afraid, just my personal experience from living in South Africa, Zimbabwe, UK, Switzerland and USA.

And the reasons for that are pretty simple. In South Africa and Zimbabwe, there is generally little excess to give away and resource are short enough that competition is not for making life easier, it is for feeding your kids - and in those situations the gloves tend to come off.

This is obviously a huge generalization - exceptions all over the place, but generally speaking I believe people in the wealthier nations are pleasanter and more honest than in the poor nations, as they can afford to be.

Ever seen an "Honor store" in Africa?

Particularly self made rich people probably ARE more so. I agree with you. Why? Simply put...they had to work long and hard to make their self made money. Nothing was easy for them. They know the value of something earned.

Old wealth people? Dunno fur sures. Probably less so because their wealth has always been there. They did not have to earn it. It is something that they always had. Old wealth money may not have the same value with old wealth people.

Poor people suddenly rich? Probably they are much more rude. Look at it like starving wolves snapping over a small food kill. They had nothing...now they suddenly have something. They are going to protect it anyway they can.

Personal rant; Too many undeserving people are given priceless things that cost them nothing. The right to vote is one of them. Something that is given freely and cheaply to another has no value, nor appreciation. My read only. HB

garfield wrote:<snip>
I'm not sure about individuals as I have known wealthy and poor that have both met and broken the pattern, but if you compare societies on a wealth basis in my opinion in a wealthy society individuals will generally be more honest and polite, more likely to give to charity and less likely to condone bad behavior than a less wealthy society.

No studies on that I'm afraid, just my personal experience from living in South Africa, Zimbabwe, UK, Switzerland and USA.

And the reasons for that are pretty simple. In South Africa and Zimbabwe, there is generally little excess to give away and resource are short enough that competition is not for making life easier, it is for feeding your kids - and in those situations the gloves tend to come off.

This is obviously a huge generalization - exceptions all over the place, but generally speaking I believe people in the wealthier nations are pleasanter and more honest than in the poor nations, as they can afford to be.

Ever seen an "Honor store" in Africa?

The research that Paul Piff has presented shows that statistically the people that are rich behave worse than the people that are poor. In the Monopoly game, the game is artificially rigged in favor of one player, and after a few rounds of play, the player in whose favor it is rigged begins behaving as if he or she is entitled to special treatment. In the automobile study, the drivers least likely to obey the law to stop at a crosswalk when a person is crossing are people driving BMWs, Mercedes, and other luxury cars.

I'm sure that most of us (perhaps all of us) can cite rich people who are nice and poor people who are mean. Piff's study isn't looking for individual exceptions but for the statistical norms, and the statistical norm uncovered in Piff's research is that rich people are rude, unethical, and/or dishonest, while poor people are polite, ethical, and/or honest.

RHWoodman wrote:The research that Paul Piff has presented shows that statistically the people that are rich behave worse than the people that are poor. In the Monopoly game, the game is artificially rigged in favor of one player, and after a few rounds of play, the player in whose favor it is rigged begins behaving as if he or she is entitled to special treatment. In the automobile study, the drivers least likely to obey the law to stop at a crosswalk when a person is crossing are people driving BMWs, Mercedes, and other luxury cars.

I'm sure that most of us (perhaps all of us) can cite rich people who are nice and poor people who are mean. Piff's study isn't looking for individual exceptions but for the statistical norms, and the statistical norm uncovered in Piff's research is that rich people are rude, unethical, and/or dishonest, while poor people are polite, ethical, and/or honest.

And I repeat, in my view that holds for societies to an even greater extent. In a society with 40% or greater unemployment, you should not expect the poor to be honest or generous. They are fighting like hell for their next meal.

About the study, let me digress a little. I recently played a computer game and when I switched the difficulty level to "Hard", the game logic responded not by being smarter, but by producing a statistically unlikely series of dice throw to try and win. That ticked me off to the point that I deleted the game. Does that make me dishonest and rude? I just despise cheating, no matter where it is coming from.

Finally, about driving a luxury car, German or otherwise. In South Africa I rode a motorcycle for many years, and learned to keep away from luxury cars. But where I live right now in the US, the cars I have to look out for are large pickups and SUV's. And I have noticed that many of those drivers take particular pleasure in being as obstructive as possible to German cars as well.

When I studied statistics in college, our lecturer made a point of emphasizing that we should not believe statistics: they are too easily shaped to reflect the view of the author. Always look at the methodology, and where possible the raw numbers I was told. And that I do believe.

One of those saying that I first heard in high school which does seem to match life:

There are lies, dammed lies and statistics.