"Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior"

[handmade34]

Just the abstracts but much is going around about the findings

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/02/21/1118373109

"Abstract: Seven studies using experimental and naturalistic methods reveal that upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals. In studies 1 and 2, upper-class individuals were more likely to break the law while driving, relative to lower-class individuals. In follow-up laboratory studies, upper-class individuals were more likely to exhibit unethical decision-making tendencies (study 3), take valued goods from others (study 4), lie in a negotiation (study 5), cheat to increase their chances of winning a prize (study 6), and endorse unethical behavior at work (study 7) than were lower-class individuals. Mediator and moderator data demonstrated that upper-class individuals’ unethical tendencies are accounted for, in part, by their more favorable attitudes toward greed..."


Also.....

"Power Increases Hypocrisy, Moralizing in Reasoning, Immorality in Behavior"

"Abstract: In five studies, we explored whether power increases moral hypocrisy (i.e., imposing strict moral standards on other people but practicing less strict moral behavior oneself). In Experiment 1, compared with the powerless, the powerful condemned other people’s cheating more, but also cheated more themselves. In Experiments 2 through 4, the powerful were more strict in judging other people’s moral transgressions than in judging their own transgressions. A final study found that the effect of power on moral hypocrisy depends on the legitimacy of the power: When power was illegitimate, the moral-hypocrisy effect was reversed, with the illegitimately powerful becoming stricter in judging their own behavior than in judging other people’s behavior. This pattern, which might be dubbed hypercrisy, was also found among low-power participants in Experiments 3 and 4. We discuss how patterns of hypocrisy and hypercrisy among the powerful and powerless can help perpetuate social inequality..".
http://pss.sagepub.com/content/21/5/737.abstract

[kewhawaii]

1. complete study..

is available. Just google the title; it's down the search page a few entries.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Maybe that's why Honor Codes were designed and put in place by

Ivy League colleges and universities. The administrations except this kind of behavior from "the Elite".

Honor Codes are oaths that the students won't cheat on tests, plagarize, and respect the possessions of others (i.e., no stealing). And if you witness a compatriot violating the Honor Code, your duty is to confront him/her and request that s/he turn him/herself into authorities or you have to do it.

While on the surface, it sounds as though you have to be a snitch, but I attended a school with an Honor Code and I enjoyed the privilege of taking tests without monitors of any kind. I also developed a keen sense of ethics as a result. For what it's worth, I never saw anyone cheating (partially because I kept my eyes on my tests). OTOH, I heard thirdhand about someone who got hold of the final, completed the Blue Book, handed it in, and graduated with me. I don't think she deserved the same diploma I received.