Maybe the contradiction is thus: 1. We expect people higher up the status ladder to behave better than most people. 2. Getting higher up the status ladder pro

Maybe the contradiction is thus: 1. We expect people higher up the status ladder to behave better than most people. 2. Getting higher up the status ladder probably means you are statistically likely to be "worse" than most people by virtue of the traits it requires to get there. (Please excuse the "better/worse" shorthand but you all know what I mean)