Psychologist Paul Piff and colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, determined that "higher class" persons were more likely to cheat, take candy from children, and, when driving a shiny, expensive, new vehicle, "plow" through a crosswalk ignoring pedestrians. However, hybrid drivers exhibited the same crosswalk behaviors. Piff is quoted as interpreting the results of his study to indicate that the observations made by his group point to people who were determined to exhibit self-interest tend to also exhibit unethical behaviors.

Piff and colleagues administered a diverse series of tests to both undergraduate students attending Berkeley and adults recruited online. Participants compared themselves to other Americans by self-selecting their own social status in relation to income, education, and their personal perception of respect generated by their jobs. One of the tests in the study involved participants rolling online dice in an effort to win a gift certificate. Three times as many participants who perceived themselves as upper class reported fabricated scores that were actually higher than the possible scores. The researchers saw this behavior as an effort to win the prize. Subjects were asked to compare themselves to Donald Trump and to a homeless person. Those who self-identified as being more like Trump took twice as many candies from a jar designated as being for children.

Observers also coded the status of drivers at a crosswalk based on vehicle age, make, and overall appearance. People who were driving the newer, shinier cars were 3 times more likely to ignore pedestrians at a crosswalk as well as fail to yield. The drivers identified as higher class also were observed to be 4 times more likely to cut off other drivers at a 4-way stop when compared with drivers of cheaper, older cars. Interestingly, drivers of hybrid vehicles exhibited similar behaviors at crosswalks. Piff hypothesized that these drivers felt they had "moral license" to behave unethically in other ways, because they perceived their choice of automobiles as ethical.

Adam Galinsky of Northwestern University sees the study as more related to power than to class. Whether the behaviors noted by Piff and colleagues relate to power, wealth, or class, the study highlights that we do not all operate using the same "moral compass." As nurse educators, we need to frequently remind ourselves and our students of these possible differences.

Source: Norton E. Shame on the Rich. ScienceNow. February 27, 2012. Available at http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/02/shame-on-the-rich.html?ref=hp. Accessed March 5, 2012.

Submitted by: Robin E. Pattillo, PhD, RN, CNL, news editor at [email protected].