How Does Money Change People?

How accurate is the research showing that the rich are more stingy and less trustworthy?



It has definitely happened to everyone. You go somewhere to eat or drink with your friends; When it came time to pay the bill, the person with the best financial situation in the group was the last to reach for his wallet. You wonder if they got rich because they've always been stingy, or if wealth makes them stingy. This is a complex issue that can be addressed from many angles. In a study conducted in 1993, it was seen that students studying economics helped charities less than those in other departments and did not show much solidarity in games that required solidarity. When the students were evaluated at the beginning and end of their education, it was determined that those in other departments were more generous towards graduation, while economics students remained the same tight-fisted at the end of their education as they were at the beginning. These are averages, of course; There are also very helpful economics students.
One of the studies showing that those with high income levels can engage in extraordinary altruistic behavior was conducted in the USA. They looked at people in different states who donated their own kidneys to people they didn't know. It has been observed that more donations are made in regions with high levels of prosperity.

Not admitting mistakes

However, in another study conducted at the University of California, it was seen that rich people gave more approval to the statement "If I were on the Titanic, I should be one of the first people who deserved to get on the rescue boats." It was also found that rich people have a stronger tendency to not admit their mistakes and to think that they are good in everything. In another study, people in a group of different income levels were given 10 dollars and it was seen how much of it they would donate to charities. It was observed that those with lower income levels donated more. However, these people had become rich before participating in this experiment. Maybe it wasn't their wealth that pushed them to act this way, but they became rich thanks to this behavior.

Thinking Egocentrically

So, was the behavior of those who became rich later in the Monopoly game, not in reality, but as a result of the game, changing? In this case, it was seen that most of them started to become noisier and take more of the crackers on the table. When asked how they succeeded, they talked about how much effort they put in and smart decisions they made. Maybe having money, even temporarily, made people more self-centered. In another experiment conducted in San Francisco, it was examined whether owners of expensive vehicles or poor vehicles stopped more often for passengers to pass at the zebra crossing. It was observed that all of the cheap vehicles stopped, while only half of the expensive vehicles stopped. In another study conducted in the Netherlands with 9 thousand people and four times a year, it was found that people with higher socioeconomic status behaved more independently and communicated less with others. In games based on financial trust, rich players were no more likely to betray their opponents than poor players.

Donate to charities

So what was the situation regarding donations to charities? Conventional research shows that the poorest and richest donate much more than the middle class. The average donation rate to charities in the United States is 2.3 percent of income. For the 2 percent of people whose income exceeds 300 thousand dollars, this rate reaches 4.4 percent. This study, conducted in Boston, shows that the rich are no more or less generous and helpful than the average person. Only the rich in the upper bracket can donate more, probably because they can afford it.