LEB320F_Assignment#2_Crawford (1)

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Crawford 1 Colin Crawford Professor Quintanilla LEB 320F 04 November 2022 Assignment #2: Does Money Make You Mean? Money is central in how one acts and behaves on a daily basis. Some believe money can buy happiness, while others believe money causes a decrease in interpersonal relationships and thus isolation. Most people seek money for the purpose of being financially free. It is reasonable to believe that financial freedom will reduce stress and allow for an easier life. However, there is a clear relationship between wealth and generosity. Those who are rich often behave in a greedy, and perhaps condescending, manner. Ted Talk speaker Paul Piff demonstrates in several studies that money can make you “mean.” In agreeing with this idea, I believe that the overconfidence bias, the self-serving bias, and isolation influence one’s morality and behavior in a negative way. Affluent people tend to be more self-serving than poorer people—often disregarding the truth in their pursuit to advance their own interests—which clouds moral judgement and can lead them to behave in a rude manner. In Piff’s discussion, the first study he introduces involved a group of UC Berkeley students playing games of Monopoly. However, Piff and his team rigged the games to give one player two times more Monopoly money, decided by the flip of a coin. In addition, the “rich” player was able to roll both dice, which allowed them to move around the board a lot more. Both changes were made for the “rich” player to emulate a person of financial independence and dominance. Over the course of the game, of course, the “rich” player became richer, and it became clear the “rich” person was going to win the game, given the abundance of Monopoly money they had. In examining the players’ behavior at the end of the game, Piff

Crawford 2 noticed the “rich players” rarely credited their dominance in the game to the pre-game advantage. When asked if anyone stated they won were lucky, Piff replied and said “very few people talked about the fact that it was that flip of a coin that got them into that initial position of privilege.” This is a prime example of the self-serving bias, as we discussed in class. The “rich” players are screening out blatant information to advance their self-interest in winning and becoming wealthier. In most cases, as Piff said, the “rich” winners did not include that a major factor in their dominance was they monetary advantage they were given before the game began. Due their ignorance, they are less empathetic toward the “poor” players. Piff cited their “smacking” on the board with their piece and unnecessary comments regarding their abundance of wealth in comparison to the other “poor” player. Piff alluded that this was “mean” behavior. I believe this lack of generosity is a result of the “rich” player’s wealth and selfishness and can be examined in real-life situtations. Wealthy people tend to be more confident than poorer people, which can lead them to act in immoral ways and make decisions with no reflection. Another experiment that Piff conducted examined the reaction of differently priced cars to a pedestrian walking across the street. Piff noticed that those driving more expensive cars were less likely to slow down or stop for the pedestrian crossing the street, which broke a California law. He also found that not a single of the least expensive cars broke the law. Piff assumed the more expensive cars to be driven by rich people. A wealthy person is likely to be overly confident in their actions and not act as generously as they should to their peers due to their perceived financial superiority. Thus, the overconfidence bias, as discussed in class, can explain richer people not stopping for pedestrians. Their overconfidence can translate into unethical and immoral judgements with no reflection. In

Crawford 3 this study, I believe it is clear that wealthier car-owners displayed overconfidence in wealth and acted both illegally and “mean” in not stopping for the pedestrian. An increase in wealth often causes a decrease in interpersonal relationships, which is isolating and can lead to rude behavior. A team of researchers from Emory University and the University of Minnesota surveyed almost 120,000 people, asking about their annual household income and social life. Their research concluded that wealthier people “spent less time socializing, and more time alone, overall” (Thomas). One explanation suggests that isolation results in “mean” behavior because rich people do not need to rely on family or friends for material support. Because of this, I believe wealthy people put in less effort to develop relationships. Such isolation causes wealthy people to act in a less generous way than if they were not as wealthy. Another explanation for wealth-induced isolation could that rich people feel financially superior to their peers. Thus, they do not “hang out” or mingle with family and friends because they feel as though they are higher-ranking based on economic status. In turn, they may behave rudely and lack empathy for their peers, as demonstrated in Piff’s Monopoly and car experiments. In conclusion, I agree with Piff’s belief that money makes people “mean.” His Monopoly and car experiments display rich people act less generously than poor people. I understand the notion that money buys happiness and reduces stress, which should allow for positive behavior. However, I believe that money does allow for financial freedom, but that financial freedom does not equate to happiness. In fact, I believe money can force people to act in a rude manner as a result of the influence by the overconfidence bias, the self-serving bias, and isolation.

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Crawford 4 Works Cited Simon-Thomas, Emiliana R. “Are the Rich More Lonely?” Greater Good , Greater Good Magazine, 1 June 2016. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/are_the_rich_more_lonely .

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