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Thursday, March 8, 2012

Modern School: Wealth Makes You a Jerk (and this is News?)

Modern School: Wealth Makes You a Jerk (and this is News?):


Wealth Makes You a Jerk (and this is News?)


Stealing Candy from Babies (Images from Flick, by Qfamily and jantik)
As people’s wealth increases, so does their tendency to engage in unethical behaviors, according to researchers from UC Berkeley and the University of Toronto, whose work was published in last week’s PNAS.  (A summary of the report can be read at Wired).

The researchers conducted seven different experiments. In the first, they found that wealthier individuals were more likely to cut off other drivers and pedestrians at busy intersections in the San Francisco Bay Area, even when controlled for time of day, gender, age, and traffic conditions.

In one experiment, participants were asked what they would do if given change for $20 if they had paid with a $10