Why do rich people lie, cheat and steal more than those on low incomes?

https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/opinion-why-do-rich-people-lie-cheat-and-steal-more-than-those-on-low-incomes-4647197-May2019/?fbclid=IwAR16-HbAJPCisK_Io10KN0rRlmUPDVFv9PuVyfZgK6xj1VdthflIT8rPL44

Diarmuid Pepper
May 27, 2019

there is a significant body of research to support the idea that people driving expensive cars are more inconsiderate on the road.

Researchers at the University of California in Berkeley monitored motorist behaviour at a pedestrian crossing in California.

It is illegal for cars in California to not stop for a pedestrian at a zebra crossing but half of the drivers in expensive cars broke that law and didn’t stop for their fellow citizens who were waiting to cross the road.

Perhaps the most interesting thing in that survey is that the very oldest and least expensive vehicles were classified as ‘beater cars’ – In Ireland we would call them ‘bangers’.

Every single one of the people driving a banger stopped at the pedestrian crossing.

In another experiment researchers sat a jar of individually wrapped sweets in front of a group of people from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds. The participants were explicitly told that the individually wrapped sweets were for children in a nearby laboratory but that they could take some if they wanted.

Were rich people more willing to take sweets meant for children? Of course, they were. Rich people took twice as many sweets as the people from the lower income groups.

Seven experiments produced similar results leading researchers to conclude that higher social class predicts unethical behaviour.

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People who earned €14,000 a year gave 44% more money to strangers than people who earned over €130,000 a year.

That is in line with the results of numerous other studies which have repeatedly shown that people on low incomes give proportionately more to charity than rich people do.

Another study provided some insight into people’s inability to understand the nature of their privilege.

The participants played monopoly but the game was rigged. At the beginning of the game, a coin was flipped and the winner of that coin-flip was given twice as much monopoly money and was also allowed two rolls of the dice instead of one.

Of course, the participant who started out with twice as much money and also got to roll the dice twice on each turn eventually won the game.

You might expect the winner to be gracious in victory since they were afforded such a privileged starting position.

But the privileged players weren’t graceful at all, instead, they routinely bragged about their wealth and became fairly insufferable throughout the game.

Worse than that – after the game when they were asked why they think they won, most of them spoke of their brilliant tactics, their finesse at the game of monopoly and their daring moves.

This rigged game was played by more than a hundred different pairs and only a handful of the winners acknowledged that it was the flip of a coin that caused them to win the game. This was despite having been given incredible advantages over the other player.

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the researchers found that greed is actually viewed more favourably in upper-class communities.

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