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 Just look at the presidential election. Among the candidates are a
billionaire and a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, each with
their own prescriptions about how to address rampant income
inequality. (Waiting in the wings is another billionaire.)
Paul Piff, an assistant professor of social psychology at the
University of California, Irvine, has been studying how money
changes us and our relationships with each other. Most of the
findings point to money bringing out negative behavior in people.
"The more money you have, the more focused on yourself you become,
and less-sensitive to the welfare of people around you," Piff says.
He made this the topic of a TED talk in 2013 called "Does money make
you mean?" (http://bit.ly/1uwVfKg) that has now racked up almost
three million views.
With income inequality such a key issue in 2016, Reuters spoke with
Piff to find out how wealth alters our behavior - and what that
means for society.
Q: How did you come to go about studying if money makes people
behave badly?
A: We rigged a Monopoly game. Hundreds of pairs of strangers came
into our lab, and one of those people was randomly assigned to be
the rich player. They got twice as much money, got to roll two dice
instead of one and were given more cash when passing 'Go.'
Even though it was so clearly rigged, within a few minutes we
started to see pattern shifts in behavior. Rich players were ruder,
louder, more dominant. They would celebrate their success, and talk
about how much money they had.
At the end of game, we asked people about why they had won. Rich
players always focused on specific things they had done, like buying
certain properties. But really, it all came down to luck, of having
been assigned the role of the rich player.
Q: What parallels did you see between that Monopoly game and real
life?
A: It's random what family you are born into. Some people are born
into lives of privilege, and some aren't. But despite not having
earned that privilege, people tend to attribute it to things they
did and how much they deserve it. Parents' wealth often correlates
with a sense of entitlement.
Q: Why should we care about how money alters our thinking?
A: When you feel entitled, you are more likely to do the wrong
thing. In experiments we have run, we have seen that you are more
likely to break ethical norms to serve your self-interest, or lie to
get ahead, or cheat in games, or break laws.
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Q: Since you gave your TED talk, inequality has only gotten more
extreme. Why do you say this is a problem for the 1 percent as well?
A: Inequality is a pressing issue, and not just for the poor, but
for everyone. The social fabric gets frayed, trust and cooperation
are undermined, people's health gets worse. Inequality makes social
outcomes worse for everybody - and that's a problem.
The real challenge is that it's a self-perpetuating dynamic, because
those at the top feel they are more deserving of what they have, and
become less-willing to share those resources with others. Inequality
creates more distance between people.
Q: So what can be done to bridge that distance?
A: It's not the case that wealthy people are corrupt. That's a
caricature. But wealth is a resource that comes with certain
psychological tendencies. If wealth tends to drive a decrease in
compassion and kindness and generosity, then we have to find ways to
mitigate that.
In the lab, for instance, we found that poorer people were initially
more generous than richer people. But when shown a short video about
poverty, richer people became just as generous.
The Giving Pledge, where billionaires have promised to give away at
least half of their wealth to charity, is one step in the right
direction.
The real problem is that wealth makes us turn inward. We have to
shake ourselves up psychologically, reconnect with the needs of
others, and get out of our insular worlds.
(Editing by Beth Pinsker and Dan Grebler)
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