Study Finds Wealth-Driven Students Can Still Be Nice
56 replies, posted
[quote]Investment bankers raking in the dough on Wall Street may get a bad rap for being selfish, but a desire to make boatloads of money won't automatically turn you into Scrooge McDuck, according to new research. A study published in the April issue of the Journal of Applied Social Psychology found that many people primarily driven by a desire for wealth are still willing to help someone in need.
Previous research has shown the people are more likely to help others if they aren't in a hurry, and might be less likely to help others if they love money. Yet in a recent experiment with a group of 50 wealth-driven college students in an intro economics course at Loyola University, mostly business majors, 78 percent displayed a willingness to stop and lend assistance to someone in trouble regardless of whether they were in a hurry.
First, the students filled out a questionnaire measuring their religiosity and desire for wealth. Later, they were given one of two passages to read--either one about career paths for economics students or a version of the parable of the Good Samaritan. They were asked to go down the hall to another room where they would give a short speech related to the passage they had read. Some were told they were running late and the researcher in the other room would be waiting on them, while others were told they didn't need to rush.
On their way to the other room, the participants encountered someone in distress who would approach the subject and explain that his cell phone had just died and one of his family members had been in an accident. The "victim" would rank each student's helpfulness on a scale from 0 to 5--from not noticing or offering them any help to indirectly helping by telling the waiting research assistant about the situation to providing them with a cell phone or money for a pay phone.
After the students proceeded to the room and gave the speech, they answered a questionnaire about how likely they would be to help someone in need, whether they would participate in insider trading if they could get away with it and receive $2 million, and whether accumulating material wealth was one of their major goals in life.
The majority of the participants offered some form of aid to the victim, either directly or indirectly. Only 22 percent (11 people) did not help at all, and 66 percent stayed with the victim and/or gave them a cell phone to use.
Helpful, but these people weren't angels: the authors write "the preliminary data suggests the majority of the participants were somewhat ethically challenged." A little more than half (56 percent) admitted they would take the $2 million for insider trading, and 72 percent said accumulating wealth was a top life priority.
Whether or not they were in a hurry didn't seem to significantly affect the students' altruism: 84 percent of the low-hurry group stopped to help, whereas 72 percent stopped in the high-hurry group. Which passage the students had been given to read didn't affect the outcome either.[/quote]
[url]http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-04/research-shows-rich-people-arent-entirely-awful-and-selfish[/url]
And now FP'ers discredit anyway possible :v:
Charles Darwin was rich, and he was pretty awesome.
study paid for by rich people - i mean nice people
this just in: the only way to tell if someone is nice or not is by actually getting to know them
also the sky is blue
more at eleven
Oh okay lets raise their taxes then if they're so selfless
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;40395720][url]http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-04/research-shows-rich-people-arent-entirely-awful-and-selfish[/url]
And now FP'ers discredit anyway possible :v:[/QUOTE]
[URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2001/dec/21/voluntarysector.fundraising"]Well[/URL], [URL="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/04/why-the-rich-dont-give/309254/"]since[/URL] [URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22FOB-wwln-t.html?_r=0"]you[/URL] [URL="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765578735/Studies-try-to-find-why-poorer-people-are-more-charitable-than-the-wealthy.html?pg=all"]asked[/URL]...
Being nice is separate from being moral, I'm sure there was plenty of nice Nazi officials.
Warren Buffett and Bill Gates
Thats all that needs to be said here.
Uh, no shit?
Did we really need a study to confirm that people of a certain group aren't all assholes?
Fancy that eh.
popsci is the dumbest thing ever
these arent even rich people, they are "wealth-driven" college students
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;40395720]And now FP'ers discredit anyway possible :v:[/QUOTE]
Study finds that [B]business majors that want to be rich[/B] (not rich people per the headline) would help someone on their way to class, and that more than half of them (28 students) would participate in insider trading. Assuming all the assholes who didn't help at all (11 people) admitted to this, that leaves you with 17 students that would help someone with their cellphone, but would also take two million dollars if they could get away with it. I'd say they're still awful.
Let's look at the rest of the class. 22 of the students helped, and said they wouldn't take the money. Assuming none of them lied, there's still no guarantee that any of them will be successful when they graduate. It would likely be an even smaller percentage of the class, which was already less than half. So yeah, they're not all jerks, but most of them are, or would be given the chance.
Fixed my numbers, confused 22% with 22 students. oops
Whether rich people are selfish or not isn't a reason for lowering their taxes though
In my experience, poor people can be just as selfish.
I mean I'm pretty selfish; probably just as much as a rich person. It's not because I'm a dickhead - it's just because I need all the money I get each week. Losing even $10 would leave me eating oats for dinner.
[QUOTE=Obnobs;40395852]Being nice is separate from being moral, I'm sure there was plenty of nice Nazi officials.[/QUOTE]
actually morality and "niceness" are not binary. people can have both good and bad morals at the same time. using your godwin example, a nazi might want to help the poor, but only the aryan poor or w/e. on one hand the person has altruistic ideas, but on the other they are still racist.
back on track, a rich person can be willing to help the poor but be driven by their environment and culture to take part in actions that hurt the poor. it doesn't mean the rich are devils, it means the system itself is the devil.
[editline]24th April 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=Maloof?;40396040]In my experience, poor people can be just as selfish.
I mean I'm pretty selfish; probably just as much as a rich person. It's not because I'm a dickhead - it's just because I need all the money I get each week. Losing even $10 would leave me eating oats for dinner.[/QUOTE]
oats are delicious for every meal tho :(
[QUOTE=yawmwen;40396056]actually morality and "niceness" are not binary. people can have both good and bad morals at the same time. using your godwin example, a nazi might want to help the poor, but only the aryan poor or w/e. on one hand the person has altruistic ideas, but on the other they are still racist.
back on track, a rich person can be willing to help the poor but be driven by their environment and culture to take part in actions that hurt the poor. it doesn't mean the rich are devils, it means the system itsel[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.theonion.com/articles/good-cop-bad-cop-both-racist,1702/[/url]
"Wealth driven college students". So, NOT actual rich Wall Street people, just a bunch of college students.
Popsci, what happened to your credibility?
[QUOTE=soccerskyman;40395731]Charles Darwin was rich, and he was pretty awesome.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, as long as you cover up the racist stuff.
Sample size is 50, all of whom likely have similar backgrounds, come from the same or similar places, and all go to the same school.
Then there is the fact that these are not rich people or even future rich people, they are [I]potentially[/I] rich people.
Then there is the fact that $2 million in insider trading isn't just an ethics issue: you could cost other traders their damned shirts with moves like that.
Yeah this study is a bust.
[QUOTE=Squad;40396474]Yeah, as long as you cover up the racist stuff.[/QUOTE]
Racism wasn't really a social concern back then. Most of our historical icons could be considered racist. If they weren't racist, then they were likely at least sexist.
You can't really judge a historical figure's ethical or moral worth when the society that they were a part of was so vastly different from our own
[QUOTE=Squad;40396474]Yeah, as long as you cover up the racist stuff.[/QUOTE]
From some quick googling, he seems less racist than most people of his time would have been.
[QUOTE=Mingebox;40396655]From some quick googling, he seems less racist than most people of his time would have been.[/QUOTE]
I'm sure your "quick" googling has shown you everything he ever said and his inner thoughts to automatically judge him in comparison to everyone else in his time :v:
[QUOTE]Helpful, but these people weren't angels: the authors write "the preliminary data suggests the majority of the participants were somewhat ethically challenged." A little more than half (56 percent) admitted they would take the $2 million for insider trading, a[B]nd 72 percent said accumulating wealth was a top life priority.[/B][/QUOTE]
This isn't a negative trait necessarily? They were specifically studying students who wanted to be wealthy, of course that would be a main life goal. I'm not sure why they are painting that as ethically challenged.
[QUOTE=Rhenae;40396847]This isn't a negative trait necessarily? They were specifically studying students who wanted to be wealthy, of course that would be a main life goal. I'm not sure why they are painting that as ethically challenged.[/QUOTE]
Because people don't like to remember that money [I]can[/I] buy happiness.
The study is dumb but did we actually need a study to know this?
Having money allows you to be infinitely nice (Bill Gates), or infinite evil (Koch Brothers). Money is a means to an end.
Well duh.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;40396680]I'm sure your "quick" googling has shown you everything he ever said and his inner thoughts to automatically judge him in comparison to everyone else in his time :v:[/QUOTE]
you can only look at notable things he has said. back in those days racism was very common since it was the age of colonialism and the popular trend at the time was looking at other skin colors as being subhuman to justify that colonialism.
so charles darwin being racist shouldn't be surprising. it doesn't make the thoughts right, but it shows that even smart people are susceptible to the environments they were born in.
I think the results may be easily skewed by the considerable chance any of the students would make a connection with the material they read/what they were informed to do - be in a hurry or act as if there is no rush. In their position I bet I would've had a thought in my head of 'what if this is a test in itself...' when encountering the man with the cell phone, acting in addition to my own desire to help.
Yeah, I don't have to be a scientist to know this:
More money = more selfish
and
No money = no shellfish.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.