My
American Studies class has recently been reading The Crucible. In the Crucible,
some reoccurring themes are greed, power, and lying. Since this book is set
during the 1600s, this caused me to wonder about just how much these themes are
still prominent and how they connect to one another in today’s society.
In
my search, I stumbled across a Ted Talk by Paul Piff called Does Money Make YouMean? Turns out, the answer is yes. This is not to be interpreted as all
wealthy people are mean, but some recent studies have shown that when a person
is given wealth, their attitudes can change. Piff starts by sharing the results of a study they conducted
in which they had two strangers play Monopoly. In this game, they gave one
player twice as much money, more dice to role, and a higher salary. Clearly, this
player was set up to win the game, but that wasn’t the question.
Instead
of the outcome, they were watching the privileged player’s behavior. As the
game went on, this player began to gloat and felt the right to eat the pretzels
left on the table for the two players. So once this player established that
they were the one with the power, they started to get greedy and rude.
Later
they brought in adults and gave them ten dollars. They then told them that they
could give a portion of their ten dollars to a complete stranger. People who
earned less than 25-50 thousand dollars gave 44 percent more to the stranger
than people who made over 100-200 thousand dollars a year. Ten dollars isn’t very
significant to someone who makes over 200 thousand dollars a year, so why were
they more greedy when offered to give it away? Is it because they don’t want to
give up their power?
Finally,
they had adults come and play a game that involved rolling dice. They rigged
the computer so it was impossible to roll any number over twelve. But sure
enough, the wealthier the person was, the more likely they would record a score
over twelve. So why did the wealthy people feel more inclined to lie? Again, I think
that like in The Crucible, everything comes back to power. In today’s society,
wealth is often associated with power, so is that why wealthier people feel
more entitled and less hesitant to lie?
This is a very interesting study you talked about Maddie. I also find it fascinating that the game Monopoly was used to test this study. Monopoly is an American game. The point of monopoly is to get money and dominate the whole board. In a sense, I think the game of Monopoly says as much about American values as this study does.
ReplyDeleteAlong with this, there is an American philosophy that says with hard work, determination, and a little bit of luck, one can be successful. Wealthy people are perhaps meaner because they feel they have, like the philosophy goes, worked harder, had more determination, and had just a little more luck than most people and also have the money to "prove" it. Therefore I think they may feel they are more entitled.
MC, Nice job blogging this term. You've covered a lot of ground thoughtfully.
ReplyDeleteThis post is fascinating, and I really like the link to the TED talk. The link to The Crucible is a little tenuous, though, without quoting from that text. Might you compare Danforth and Hale's empathy relative to their power, e.g.?
You might also check out Daniel Goleman's work on money and empathy for a follow-up post. I offered a link on Will E's blog. You two should talk about this online. You each have a lot to say.