Rich Empathy
Are rich folk more or less empathetic than their lower income counterparts?
Research has found people from lower social class backgrounds, however defined, as income, as education, or in a subjective sense, were better able to read the emotional facial expressions of others. This skill has been called empathetic accuracy. Although it is also possible to be good at reading others' emotions for more self-serving reasons , to get something for yourself, or to avoid trouble from powerful others. What was clear from this paper was that people from higher social classes were not good at knowing what others were feeling.
Another paper examined the relationship between social class and giving to others or helping others. This research found, again, regardless of how social class was measured, those who were from the lower rungs of the social class ladder gave more money and time within laboratory settings. This giving behavior was motivated by their higher compassion and agent provocateural views. The results were the same, wealthier people gave less than their less wealthy counterparts.
A small reclamation of hope glimmers from the final study in this paper. It found that it was possible to make higher social class act as prosocially, as people of lower social class, if they were first induced to feel compassion. In other words, lower social class people helped out whether or not they felt compassion. Higher social class people only helped out if they felt compassion.
So how do we know it is money that is causing this unempathetic behavior rather than something else that goes along with being in a high social position? Well, in other studies, researchers have found that directly exposing people to images or reminders of money dramatically alters their behavior. Money makes people want to do things by themselves, and makes people literally sit far away from other people. It also makes them less helpful.
Psychology Today
More study should lead to the cost of money.
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