Does Money Make You Mean?
If the rich would share their wealth with the poor,/inequality might be solved.// But this does not seem to be happening.// Paul Piff,/an American social psychologist,/wanted to find out why.//
　　Do rich people think and act differently from poor people?// Paul Piff has explored this question/in dozens of experiments.// His findings suggest/that as people’s wealth increases,/so do their feelings of entitlement and their self-interest,/but their empathy and compassion decrease.// Piff worries/that as economic inequality increases,/the idea that everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed and prosper/will suffer.//
A Rigged Game//
　　In one interesting experiment,/people played a board game/in which two players compete/in buying and selling land, buildings, and houses.// The goal is to see/who ends up with the most money and property.// Each player begins with the same amount of money/(of course,/it is play money)/and each must follow the same rules.//
　　Piff decided to change the game.// He wanted to see/what would happen if the game were rigged/so that one player got twice as much money as the other player/and the rules also worked in favor of the “rich” player.// More than 100 pairs of strangers/were asked to be either a “rich” player or a “poor” player/in a rigged game.// Through hidden cameras,/Piff watched what happened.//
　　As the game went on,/dramatic differences appeared between the two players.// The rich players/began to show signs of power and celebration.// They became loud/and slapped their pieces down on the board.// They took more than their share of the pretzels/which the researchers had provided.// The rich players became more boastful.// They were less and less sensitive/to the plight of the poor players.// In some cases,/they were actually rude.//
　　According to Piff,/the rigged game can be used/as a metaphor for understanding a society/in which a few people have a lot more wealth and status/than the rest of the people.//
　　In dozens of studies involving thousands of participants,/Piff is finding/that as people get richer,/they lose their sense of compassion/and they feel an increased sense of entitlement.// Wealthier individuals are actually more likely to feel/that greed is good/and that the pursuit of self-interest is good and moral.//


Other Experiments//
　　Piff set up other experiments.// He asked people about their family income,/level of education,/financial security,/and how much they valued the way they look.// Piff even tested/how much time participants spent looking at themselves in the mirror.// He found/that rich people looked at themselves more often/and were more narcissistic.//
　　Piff also looked at helping behavior.// He was interested in/who is more likely to offer help to another person.// Rich and poor members of the community/were each given $10.// They were told/that they could keep it all for themselves/or share a portion of it with a stranger.// The researchers monitored how much people gave.// The poorer people,/who had incomes between $15,000 and $25,000 a year,/gave 44 percent more of their money to the stranger/than did people making between $150,000 and $200,000 a year.//
　　Another study examined/whether anybody would take candy/that was reserved for children/who were participating in a developmental program.// People who felt rich/took twice as much candy/as those who felt poor.//
　　Of course,/it is not only wealthy people/who show these patterns of behavior.// In fact,/most of us in our regular daily lives/struggle to decide/when or whether to put our own interests/above the interests of other people.// This is understandable/because most people like to think/that we all have an equal opportunity/to succeed and prosper/as long as we apply ourselves and work hard.// Sometimes/we need to put our own interests first.// But Piff’s studies show/that the wealthier people are,/the more likely they are to pursue personal success/without thinking about others.//


Economic Inequality//
　　Today,/the world is experiencing unprecedented levels of economic inequality.// In America,/the top 20 percent of the population/owns close to 90 percent of the total wealth in the country.// The dream that hard work and honesty will lead to success/is increasingly out of reach for many.// This pattern will never change/if the wealthy feel that they are free to do/whatever will serve their self-interest.// There’s every reason to think/that things will only get worse.//
　　Economic inequality/is something everyone should be concerned about.// Social mobility, physical health, and social trust/all decline as inequality increases.// Not only that,/violence and crime increase/as economic inequality increases.// These outcomes are felt across all levels of society.// Even people at the top experience these outcomes.//
　　To sum up,/economic inequality is not just a personal issue,/or even a national issue.// It is a matter of great international concern.// In 2021,/research showed/that just the 10 richest individuals in the world/owned a greater amount of wealth/than the bottom 3.1 billion people.// And inequality is expected to increase.//


Little Nudges//
　　So what can we do?// It seems/that the situation is out of control/and there is nothing we can do about it.// But, in fact,/laboratory research has been finding/that small nudges in certain directions,/small changes in people’s values,/can restore levels of empathy.// Reminding people of the benefits of cooperation,/or the advantages of community,/can lead wealthier individuals to be just as generous and empathetic/as poor people.//
　　In one study,/people were asked to watch a short video about childhood poverty/that served as a reminder of the needs of others.// After watching the video,/researchers looked at how willing people were/to help a stranger.// Rich people/became just as generous and willing to help out a stranger/as poor people.// This finding suggests/that these differences in empathy and fellow feeling are not innate/but are easily influenced/by slight changes in people’s values/and by little nudges toward compassion and empathy.//
　　Beyond the walls of his lab,/Piff feels he is beginning to see signs of change in society.// Bill Gates,/one of the world’s wealthiest people,/has called inequality the greatest challenge of our time.// He has talked about what must be done to combat it,/saying,/“Humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries/—but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity.”// And there’s the Giving Pledge,/in which more than 100 of America’s wealthiest people are pledging/half of their fortunes to charity.// They are using their own economic resources/to combat inequality.// In the end,/they hope to restore people’s faith/that hard work and honesty will lead to a better life/for themselves and their children.//