The cream of society may rise to the top, but so might the scum — researchers now find that people in the upper crust may be more likely to engage in lying, cheating and other kinds of unethical activity than those in lower classes.
http://www.livescience.com/18683-rich-people-lie-cheat-study.html
danbaron
29-02-2012, 20:52
Four lab tests that included undergraduates at Berkeley and national online samples of adults revealed those who considered themselves upper class had greater tendencies to make unethical decisions. This included unrightfully stealing something, lying in a negotiation, cheating at a game of chance to boost their chances of winning cash or endorsing unethical behavior at work, such as stealing cash, receiving bribes and overcharging customers.
These findings dovetail with other studies that also suggest more unethical behavior in the upper class. "A 2008 study of shoplifting found that upper-income and more educated participants were way more likely to have reported shoplifting in their lives — that's self-reported data, admittedly, but still interesting," Piff said. "Also, upper-income individuals are more likely to report having sped or breaking the speed limit."
Other studies have shown that upper-class individuals are often less cognizant of others (http://www.livescience.com/8978-read-emotions-helps-poor.html), worse at identifying the emotions others feel, less generous and altruistic, and more disengaged socially — for instance, checking their cellphones or doodling on paper during social interactions. Such research might support these new findings — it may be easier to act unethically toward others if you are not thinking about how they feel.
What a surprise, right?
The jobs of researchers depend on them doing research, correct?
Did you ever notice how often their research consists of confirming something which is obvious from everyday life?
I think this phenomenon is especially prevalent in psychology.
They can't think up anything themselves, so, they just do experiments to verify what everyone already knows.
And then, they try to make it seem like, "groundbreaking", work.