Upper class people are more likely to behave selfishly, studies suggest
Upper class people are more likely to behave selfishly, studies suggest
Higher social classes more likely to lie, cheat, cut up other road users and not stop at pedestrian crossings, say researchers
Ian Sample, science correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 February 2012 15.00 EST
A raft of studies into unethical behaviour across the social classes has delivered a withering verdict on the upper echelons of society.
Privileged people behaved consistently worse than others in a range of situations, with a greater tendency to lie, cheat, take things meant for others, cut up other road users, not stop for pedestrians on crossings, and endorse unethical behaviour, researchers found.
Psychologists at the University of California in Berkeley drew their unflattering conclusions after covertly observing people's behaviour in the open and in a series of follow-up studies in the laboratory.
Describing their work in the US journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, social psychologist Paul Piff and his colleagues at the Institute of Personality and Social Research claim that self-interest may be a "more fundamental motive among society's elite" that leads to more wrongdoing. They say selfishness may be "a shared cultural norm".
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/27/upper-class-people-behave-selfishly
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