Rich people are more likely to take candy from children, lie, cheat, endorse unethical behavior at work, and cut off pedestrians while driving, a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found.
The report contradicts the notion that poor people are more likely to act unethically out of financial necessity. Instead, the researchers wrote the “relative independence” and “increased privacy” of the wealthy make them more likely to act unethically. They also share “feelings of entitlement and inattention to the consequences of one’s actions on others” that may play into their moral decisions.
In one experiment, wealthier people took twice as many candies as poorer people from a jar that had been designated for children. In another study, nearly half of all drivers of expensive cars cut off pedestrians at crosswalks, while no drivers of the cheapest cars and about 30 percent of drivers of cheaper cars did the same thing.
The Simpsons were right again.
the simpsons have never been wrong.