Piff et al (2012) Higher Social Class Predicts Unethical Behavior

Piff, PK, Stancato, DM, Cote, S, Mendoza-Denton, R, & Keltner, D (2012) Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior. PNAS, 109, 4086-4091. 

Summary of background

• Abundant resources and elevated rank allow upper-class individuals more freedom and independence...
• Upper-class individuals...
• have more self-focused patterns of social cognition and behavior
• are less cognizant of others
• are worse at identifying others' emotions
• are more disengaged during social interactions (e.g., checking cell phones or doodling
• Upper-class individuals are less generous and altruistic
• donate less in economic games
• upper-class households donate smaller proportions of their incomes to charity
• "These findings suggest that upper-class individuals are particularly likely to value their own welfare over the welfare of others and, thus, may hold more positive attitudes toward greed."

"We reason that increased resources and independence from others cause people to prioritize self-interest over others’ welfare and perceive greed as positive and beneficial, which in turn gives rise to increased unethical behavior. We predict that, given their abundant resources and increased independence, upper-class individuals should demonstrate greater unethical behavior and that one important reason for this tendency is that upper-class individuals hold more favorable attitudes toward greed."

They did a series of 7 naturalistic and laboratory experiments, and show that: 

• Upper-class individuals are more likely to behave unethically and selfishly. Behaviors included
• More upper-class vehicles more likely to go out of turn at 4-way stop signs.
• More upper-class vehicles more likely to fail to stop for pedestrian in crosswalk.
• More upper-class participants more likely to endorse unethical behavior in hypothetical story. 
• Priming people to see themselves as more upper-class or lower-class (through comparison with rich or poor people), the upper-class prime led to more likely to take candy that was available but designated as for children in another lab. 
• Participants played role of employer negotiating with a salary with a job candidate seeking long-term employment, but employer knows job will soon be eliminated. Upper-class individuals were less likely to tell the truth about the job stability. However, the effect of class went away when they controlled for attitudes toward greed, which were much more positive in upper-class individuals. 
• Upper-class participants were more likely to cheat by lying to the experimenter about results of a game of chance to increase their chance of winning cash. 
• Individuals were primed with positive attitudes toward greed by having to list three benefits of greed (control: list three things about your day), ad completed questionnaire about propensity to engage in unethical behaviors at work. Upper-class participants more likely to engage in unethical behaviors. However, greed priming increased lower-class individuals' propensity to act unethically (still below upper class, though). 
• This appears to be moderated by more positive attitudes toward greed among upper-class individuals.