[quote]
The depiction of the rich and cold-hearted Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol” is backed up with scientific evidence, according to researchers at the University of California at Berkeley.
The researchers found that people in lower socio-economic classes are more physiologically attuned to the suffering of others than their middle- and upper-class counterparts.
“It’s not that the upper-classes are coldhearted,” UC Berkeley social psychologist Jennifer Stellar, lead author of the study published the journal [I]Emotion[/I], explained. “They may just not be as adept at recognizing the cues and signals of suffering because they haven’t had to deal with as many obstacles in their lives.”
The study was based on three experiments conducted on more than 300 ethnically diverse young adults.
Participants from lower-classes reported feeling greater levels of compassion than their more affluent counterparts. But they reported feeling the same amount of joy, contentment, pride, love, amusement and awe.
Lower-class participants also reported feeling higher levels of compassion and empathy when they watched an emotionally charged video about families who are coping with the challenges of having a child with cancer. The differences were not just psychological, lower-class participants actually had a lower heart rate when viewing the video than upper-class participants.
“One might assume that watching someone suffering would cause stress and raise the heart rate,” Stellar said. “But we have found that, during compassion, the heart rate lowers as if the body is calming itself to take care of another person.”
Lower-class participants were also more likely to feel compassion for their rivals during mock interviews. Upper-class participants, on the other hand, were less able to detect emotional distress signals in their competitors.
“Recognizing suffering is the first step to responding compassionately,” Stellar said. “The results suggest that it’s not that upper classes don’t care, it’s that they just aren’t as good at perceiving stress or anxiety.”
The current study builds upon a similar one published in [I][URL="http://pss.sagepub.com/content/21/11/1716.short?rss=1&ssource=mfc"]Psychological Science[/URL][/I] in 2010. That study found that people of upper-class status have trouble recognizing the emotions other people are feeling. People of lower-class status do a much better job.
“Americans, although this is shifting a bit, kind of think class is irrelevant,” Dacher Keltner of UC Berkeley said in August, only a month before the “Occupy Wall Street” movement would bring economic inequality to the public’s attention. “I think our studies are saying the opposite: This is a profound part of who we are.”
Keltner [URL="http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/20/4/246.abstract"]has argued[/URL] that people from lower classes have fundamentally different ways of thinking about the world than people in upper classes.
But the differences between people of upper and lower-classes seems to be the product of the cultural environment and social factors, not ingrained traits. Studies have found that as people rise in the classes, they become less empathetic.
“One clear policy implication is, the idea of [I]nobless oblige[/I] or trickle-down economics, certain versions of it, is bull,” Keltner said. “Our data say you cannot rely on the wealthy to give back. The ‘thousand points of light’—this rise of compassion in the wealthy to fix all the problems of society—is improbable, psychologically.”[/quote]
[url]http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/20/rich-people-less-empathetic-than-the-poor-study/[/url]
It's been like this throughout history. It's common knowledge.
This was fairly obvious to be honest, or at least I found it to be.
I always saw the less fortunate having happiness, sometimes even more than the wealthy, despite living a simple life.
Yeah thats why Bill Gates donated a large sum of his fortune to charity
[QUOTE=mr apple;33822586]Yeah thats why Bill Gates donated a large sum of his fortune to charity[/QUOTE]
This statement is on a general level, the fact that Bill Gates donated to charity does not negate it.
this just in
water is wet
[QUOTE=mr apple;33822586]Yeah thats why Bill Gates donated a large sum of his fortune to charity[/QUOTE]
Yeah because Bill Gates accounts for every rich person on the planet.
[QUOTE=mr apple;33822586]Yeah thats why Bill Gates donated a large sum of his fortune to charity[/QUOTE]
Do you not know how statistics work, or something?
product of making it to the top
[QUOTE=devotchkade;33822679]Do you not know how statistics work, or something?[/QUOTE]
I don't see a statistic in that report
[QUOTE=Pace.;33822663]this just in
water is wet[/QUOTE]
the sky is blue
[editline]20th December 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=devotchkade;33822679]Do you not know how statistics work, or something?[/QUOTE]
You don't
:downs:
And this years most obvious observation goes to.......
I think we pretty much proved that here: [url]http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1149165/2[/url]
I think this isn't as much a product of the wealth as opposed to the far more competitive environment kids in upper class families are put into.
Essentially upper class kids are thought that they must succeed, and defeat the other side. Whereas I'd say cooperation is a bit more in lower class families. As a result you get a different drive towards being compassionate.
I'd also like to know how this is in regards to compassion directed at nonhuman targets. Pets and similar. I could see it equaling out a bit in there.
Whats next?
Rich people more rich than the poor: study
If i was rich, i'd be handing out any extra cash like candy.
[quote]The depiction of the rich and cold-hearted Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol” is backed up with scientific evidence, according to researchers
“It’s not that the upper-classes are coldhearted,” UC Berkeley[/quote]
derp
[quote]“They may just not be as adept at recognizing the cues and signals of suffering because they haven’t had to deal with as many obstacles in their lives.”[/quote]
no shit
[QUOTE=Painties Hose;33824501]If i was rich, i'd be handing out any extra cash like candy.[/QUOTE]
and this is why you aren't rich
Rich people are greedy assholes that don't care about anyone but themselves, what a surprise.
[QUOTE=mr apple;33822586]Yeah thats why Bill Gates donated a large sum of his fortune to charity[/QUOTE]
poor person robbed someone, all poor people are now criminals
just one more reason to cannibalize them
I think a lot of people born into wealth, or handed it, can be cold and non-empathetic.
But, people who spend 1/3- 1/2 their lives poor until hard work pays off and they become wealthy, this would be different.
To say every rich person is cold, anti-empathetic, is just like saying every poor person is lazy.
[QUOTE=Arcana;33824925]I think a lot of people born into wealth, or handed it, can be cold and non-empathetic.
But, people who spend 1/3- 1/2 their lives poor until hard work pays off and they become wealthy, this would be different.
To say every rich person is cold, anti-empathetic, is just like saying every poor person is lazy.[/QUOTE]
This doesn't attempt to say 'ALL rich are not empathetic', it says that rich are less likely to be empathetic than poor.
Well, no shit.
They are rich because they are less empathetic on average, not the other way around.
In other news, Whales are bigger then rats, 8 is smaller then 500 and 1809 was before 2012
I always pictured the rich like this:
[IMG]http://www.mario-museum.net/images/wario_tresor.jpg[/IMG]
“People tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will descend like fine weather if you’re fortunate. But happiness is the result of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly.”
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;33824562]Rich people are greedy assholes that don't care about anyone but themselves, what a surprise.[/QUOTE]
And poor people are just lazy and retarded.
My statement and your statement are both just as true.
[QUOTE=acds;33826017]They are rich because they are less empathetic on average, not the other way around.[/QUOTE]
I'm a rock hard misanthrope, unfortunately that doesn't make any more richer.
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