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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/27/10512938-rich-people-more-likely-to-cheat-behave-badly-research-finds

I realize that this is probably going to blow up, but I feel pretty strongly about the subject.

This article describes three separate studies which participants were given an opportunity to do the honest thing or to cheat.  [b]The surprising result was that people in upper income levels were the most likely to cheat.  In the first study, individuals had the opportunity to tell the truth or cheat in a game for a $50 gift card. [/b] In the second, they were tested as to whether they would lie to an employee in order to convince a person to accept a job.  In the third, researchers measured how frequently a person would run through a crosswalk, and then compared results by the value of the car involved.

First, before everyone gets crazy, their idea of wealth is not DC uberwealth.  They are talking about families very much in the DCUM demographic.  Second, I am a wealthy person and so this data reflects on people like me.

I think that there is a moral challenge represented by money.  I don't know what it is.  Part of me reflects on the bible passages about wealth, which even Christians seem to brush aside when looking for guidance.  Part of me reflects on the perception that poor people are criminals.  While some are, it appears that the average wealthy person is more willing to use small acts of dishonesty to their advantage in daily life than the average person of limited means.

It is something that causes me to think hard about how I live.  What do others think?[/quote]

I did one of these games once in such an experiment. We played various games and in one particular game - the cheating strategy was really fun and there was no real-life consequence to cheating. In the beginning we just played. Towards the end, there were prizes for winning/losing or for cheating versus not cheating. When the prizes were 2 M&M I still cheated but once they started to offer me more than $1 for not cheating, as a poor grad. student I stopped cheating. Today I would keep playing the game - it was fun to break the rules. But here is the thing other than not getting the prize there were no reallife consequences for me or for anyone else as a result of my cheating - I played against a computer so it is not like in real life when if you cheat someone else loses out. Anyway my point is that with a clever experiment design it would be easy to get the result that the rich cheat more but this says nothing about real life.

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