ISLAMABAD: Are upper class people likelier to lie? Are rich people more inclined to stealing? Is there a link between wealth, cheating and crime? Is personal behaviour dependent on one’s social status? Paul Piff, who will soon be completing his PhD from the Psychology Department of the University of California, has spent the last two years researching ‘how prone are rich to unethical behaviour.’

There have been at least seven scholarly investigations by various researchers “using experimental and naturalistic methods” in order to find if rich “behave more unethically” than poor. Here are the results:

Study 1 and 2: Rich, “upper-class individuals were more likely to break the law while driving.” Study 3: Rich, “upper-class individuals were more likely to exhibit unethical decision-making tendencies.”

Study 4: Upper-class individuals were more prone to “take valued goods from others.”

Study 5: Upper-class individuals were more prone to “lie in a negotiation.” Study 6: Upper-class individuals were more prone to “cheat to increase their chances of winning a prize.”

Study 7: Upper-class individuals were more prone to “endorse unethical behaviour at work.”

Paul Piff, in his study titled ‘Higher social class predicts increased unethical behaviour’, found that “when tempted, the less affluent paid attention to fairness while the wealthy were more likely to cheat.” Why are rich more prone to unethical behaviour? The consensus among researchers seems to be that “upper-class individuals’ unethical tendencies are accounted for, in part, by their more favourable attitudes toward greed.”

Piff’s conclusion: “The pursuit of self-interest is a more fundamental motive among society’s elite, and the increased want associated with greater wealth and status can promote wrongdoing.” George Bernard Shaw was of the opinion that, “Lack of money is the root of all evil.” Dorothy Parker, the great American satirist, said this about money: “If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.”