Wealth vs. Integrity

Wealthy More Likely To Lie or Cheat: Researchers
By Elizabeth Lopatto | Bloomberg
Maybe, as the novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald suggested, the rich really are different. They're more likely to behave badly, according to seven experiments that weighed the ethics of hundreds of people.
The "upper class," as defined by the study, were more likely to break the law while driving, take candy from children, lie in negotiation, cheat to increase their odds of winning a prize and endorse unethical behavior at work, researchers reported today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Taken together, the experiments suggest at least some wealthier people "perceive greed as positive and beneficial," probably as a result of education, personal independence and the resources they have to deal with potentially negative consequences, the authors wrote.
While the tests measured only "minor infractions," that factor made the results, "even more surprising," said Paul Piff, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology at the University of California , Berkeley, and a study author.
One experiment invited 195 adults recruited using Craigslist to play a game in which a computer "rolled dice" for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate. The numbers each participant rolled were the same; anyone self-reporting a total higher than 12 was lying about their score. Those in wealthier classes were found to be more likely to fib, Piff said.
"A $50 prize is a measly sum to people who make $250,000 a year," he said. "So why are they more inclined to cheat? For a person with lower socioeconomic status, that $50 would get you more, and the risks are small."
Community Standards
Poorer participants may be less likely to cheat because they must rely more on their community to get by, and thus are more likely adhere to community standards, Piff suggested. By comparison, "upper-class individuals are more self-focused, they privilege themselves over others, and they engage in self- interested patterns of behavior," he said in a telephone interview.
To be sure, Piff and his colleagues also said the associations they found were likely to have exceptions, pointing to Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., who has pledged the majority of his holdings to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other charities, and the whistle-blowing of Cynthia Cooper and Sherron Watkins, former officials of Worldcom Inc. and Enron Corp (ENRNQ)., respectively.
Less wealthy individuals also can behave badly, they wrote, noting the relationship between poverty and violent crime in previous research. They urged further study to determine the "boundaries" of bad behavior spurred by greed.
Visual Evidence
The studies Piff and his colleagues completed weren't meant to measure the ties between socioeconomic status and violent crime, but rather simple bad behavior, he said.
Some of the experiments offered visual evidence, for instance determining whether people with more expensive cars observed traffic laws in the San Francisco Bay Area, yielding to cars and pedestrians at an intersection, or whether individuals took candy identified as being set aside for kids. Others polled people on what decision they might make in a given situation.
In the traffic tests, about one-third of drivers in higher- status cars cut off other drivers at an intersection watched by the researchers, about double those in less costly cars. Additionally, almost half of the more expensive cars didn't yield when a pedestrian entered the crosswalk while all of the lowest-status cars let the pedestrian cross. These experiments involved 426 vehicles.
Salary Negotiation
Another test asked 108 adults found through Amazon Inc.'s (AMZN) work-recruiting website Mechanical Turk to assume the role of an employer negotiating a salary with someone seeking long-term employment. They were told several things about the job, including that it would shortly be eliminated. Upper-class individuals were more likely not to mention to the job-seeker the impermanence of the position, the research found.
Meredith McGinley, an assistant professor at Chatham University in Pittsburgh who wasn't involved in the study, was critical of how some of the experiments were designed.
The design of the car experiments complicates the picture because having a flashy car doesn't necessarily mean the driver is wealthy, said McGinley, who studies positive social behavior. In the experiment involving candy, the participants were told they could have it even though the children were waiting for it. They may have felt they were doing nothing wrong, she said.
The research indicates that valuing greed leads to unethical behavior, not necessarily that social class causes bad behavior, McGinley said, adding, "greediness seems like a much more substantial predictor than income."
Previous Research
The study builds on previous research that has shown wealthy people are worse at recognizing how others feel and are more likely to be disengaged during social interactions than others, the authors wrote in the paper.
That seems to be the case even in primates, said Piff, who describes his status growing up as being "relatively comfortable, middle-class." Because of his education, he's now "probably upper-middle class," he said.
"It's not that the rich are innately bad, but as you rise in the ranks -- whether as a person or a nonhuman primate -- you become more self-focused," Piff said. "You can change that by reminding upper-class people of the needs of others. That may not be their default, but have them do it is sufficient to increase their patterns of altruistic behavior."
To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Lopatto in New York at elopatto@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net.

MTW-
Greed and selfishness. These people are our bosses; wealthy businessmen, employers, doctors, lawyers, and most disheartening of all, politicians. Why even bother having rules, or laws, if they do not apply to everyone equally? EVERYONE. We definitely need more altruists. Of course, I would still rather have Romney than Obama. If he is intelligent enough to make so many millions, he may be able to restabilize this extremely fractured Nation, and most important of all, put an end to the unfathomable greed which exists in the Government- namely the Executive and Congressional branches. Does Nancy Pelosi really need her own jumbo jet? What about the Solyndra execs getting paid even after the company's bankruptcy? Her hands are covered in the greed which created this company, as she is in support of being "green" (that jet of hers sure is green). Such hypocracy is rife in our Congress, as is greed. Hopefully, since I truly believe Governor Romney is a good man, and is one of the few wealthy individuals whom may actually care about not only the rich, but those of us who struggle week to week, even day to day. I believe he will implement that true CHANGE we were promised in 2008. The reason our President is getting anything positive done in the last few months is to get re-elected. Remember, the Republican Congress is the ONLY reason he is getting anything passed; I am sure he will take all of the credit. Of course, he is also a millionaire, but a selfish one. Has he done anything to help the Black community? It does not matter, as Mr. Samuel L. Jackson voted for him simply based on the color of his skin. Voters need to be more intelligent than that. We are ALL the same race. THE HUMAN RACE! Skin pigments, and cultural differences, do not make us a different race. I am disabled. I live, very difficultly, on less than $1000 per month. We received our first cost of living adjustment (raise) since President Bush (who did it three years in a row) in 2012. Hooray! That extra $40 dollars a month sure is saving my finances, not! Perhaps the Government should not have pilfered the monies paid in to Social Security since the day he took office. We all need to treat each other the way we would want to be treated (do unto others- it is from the Bible). What do I know? I am just one lone voice screaming in an empty theatre. I will not stop. I realize I stated in my last post that there would not be any more government topics. However, I had to get my point across on this issue. By the way, as broke as I am, I consider myself an altruist. I help those in need, even if it hurts me. That is what good people do when they care. Why do the people in power not do this? Very frustrating.

GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND OUR ARMED FORCES!
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