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Okay, so rich people act meaner. But does that mean money makes you mean? Maybe mean people are more likely to get rich. Or maybe mean tendencies are evenly

Okay, so rich people act meaner. But does that mean money makes you mean? Maybe mean people are more likely to get rich. Or maybe mean tendencies are evenly distributed, but rich people are more likely to think (quite rationally, I imagine) that they can get away with being mean, so they tend to act more meanly.

kazinator 12y ago
Among the poor, there are compensating factors against the rich man's "I can get away with it", such as perhaps: - "I have nothing to lose" - "I'm too stupid/drunk/irresponsible to consider the consequences".
- Dewie 12y ago
  If only the poor stopped being so stupid and irresponsible, maybe they could pull themselves up by the bootstraps.
  - sosborn 12y ago
    I know you jest, but there is a subset of the poor that absolutely could pull themselves out of it if they stopped being stupid and irresponsible. Certainly not a large subset, but a subset nonetheless.
    - Natsu 12y ago
      From the small cross-section of lower income people I personally knew while working for a factory, there were several people held back by their record, several held back by various substance abuse issues (including some issues which were ongoing and others that led to direct problems at work/getting fired), and at least one person born to a well-off family who was completely unable to support himself due to various anger/substance issues. The longer-term employees (i.e. the most responsible of the bunch, due to selection effects) were, in general, able to move up a little. Their kids have some hope of ending up with much better jobs than their parents. They really were moving on up and I did what I could to help those I could help that happen. The less responsible folks were drinking away their paychecks for the most part. Several of them migrated to other, similar jobs after weeks or months after failing to show up to work after getting paid a few times. This is a common enough occurrence that people have little doubt about what a no-call, no-show means in those circumstances on average and they do not permit such things to become regular. I'm hopeful that better access to internet education will allow the more industrious among those who have been trapped by their circumstances to move beyond them. But education is part of the problem for most of them. In spite of having completed high school, for the most part, a lot of them were simply unaware of all the great things on the internet these days that could help them. But... that's true for a lot of people, not just the working poor. I mean, just the other day, I was telling a lifestyle business owner of all the simple things he could do to expand his business online (most of which I learned from reading patio11). It's surprising what teaching someone a few searches might enable.
pc2g4d 12y ago
The article itself gives plenty of reason to doubt that "rich people act meaner." Attempts to replicate these studies resulted in opposite conclusions or no conclusion at all.

kazinator 12y ago

Among the poor, there are compensating factors against the rich man's "I can get away with it", such as perhaps: - "I have nothing to lose" - "I'm too stupid/drunk/irresponsible to consider the consequences".

Dewie 12y ago
If only the poor stopped being so stupid and irresponsible, maybe they could pull themselves up by the bootstraps.
- sosborn 12y ago
  I know you jest, but there is a subset of the poor that absolutely could pull themselves out of it if they stopped being stupid and irresponsible. Certainly not a large subset, but a subset nonetheless.
  - Natsu 12y ago
    From the small cross-section of lower income people I personally knew while working for a factory, there were several people held back by their record, several held back by various substance abuse issues (including some issues which were ongoing and others that led to direct problems at work/getting fired), and at least one person born to a well-off family who was completely unable to support himself due to various anger/substance issues. The longer-term employees (i.e. the most responsible of the bunch, due to selection effects) were, in general, able to move up a little. Their kids have some hope of ending up with much better jobs than their parents. They really were moving on up and I did what I could to help those I could help that happen. The less responsible folks were drinking away their paychecks for the most part. Several of them migrated to other, similar jobs after weeks or months after failing to show up to work after getting paid a few times. This is a common enough occurrence that people have little doubt about what a no-call, no-show means in those circumstances on average and they do not permit such things to become regular. I'm hopeful that better access to internet education will allow the more industrious among those who have been trapped by their circumstances to move beyond them. But education is part of the problem for most of them. In spite of having completed high school, for the most part, a lot of them were simply unaware of all the great things on the internet these days that could help them. But... that's true for a lot of people, not just the working poor. I mean, just the other day, I was telling a lifestyle business owner of all the simple things he could do to expand his business online (most of which I learned from reading patio11). It's surprising what teaching someone a few searches might enable.

pc2g4d 12y ago

The article itself gives plenty of reason to doubt that "rich people act meaner." Attempts to replicate these studies resulted in opposite conclusions or no conclusion at all.