Wealth and wrongdoing

Piff, Paul K.; Stancato, Daniel M.; Horberg, E. J.

doi:10.1017/cbo9781316225608.012

Cited by 23 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Deprived, but not depraved: Prosocial behavior is an adaptive response to lower socioeconomic status Individuals with lower socioeconomic status (SES) tend to be more empathetic, attentive to others, and prosocial than those with higher SES (Kraus et al 2012;Piff & Moskowitz 2017;Piff et al 2016). The prosocial tendencies of lower-SES individuals, who have fewer resources and reduced rank relative to upper-SES individuals, may seem irrational.…”

Section: Notementioning

confidence: 99%

The behavioural constellation of deprivation: Causes and consequences

Pepper¹,

Nettle²

2017

Behav Brain Sci

303

279

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Socioeconomic differences in behaviour are pervasive and well documented, but their causes are not yet well understood. Here, we make the case that a cluster of behaviours is associated with lower socioeconomic status (SES), which we call "the behavioural constellation of deprivation." We propose that the relatively limited control associated with lower SES curtails the extent to which people can expect to realise deferred rewards, leading to more present-oriented behaviour in a range of domains. We illustrate this idea using the specific factor of extrinsic mortality risk, an important factor in evolutionary theoretical models. We emphasise the idea that the present-oriented behaviours of the constellation are a contextually appropriate response to structural and ecological factors rather than a pathology or a failure of willpower. We highlight some principles from evolutionary theoretical models that can deepen our understanding of how socioeconomic inequalities can become amplified and embedded. These principles are that (1) small initial disparities can lead to larger eventual inequalities, (2) feedback loops can embed early-life circumstances, (3) constraints can breed further constraints, and (4) feedback loops can operate over generations. We discuss some of the mechanisms by which SES may influence behaviour. We then review how the contextually appropriate response perspective that we have outlined fits with other findings about control and temporal discounting. Finally, we discuss the implications of this interpretation for research and policy.

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Section: Notementioning

confidence: 99%

The behavioural constellation of deprivation: Causes and consequences

Pepper¹,

Nettle²

2017

Behav Brain Sci

303

279

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Individuals with lower socioeconomic status (SES) tend to be more empathetic, attentive to others, and prosocial than those with higher SES (Kraus et al 2012; Piff & Moskowitz 2017; Piff et al 2016). The prosocial tendencies of lower-SES individuals, who have fewer resources and reduced rank relative to upper-SES individuals, may seem irrational.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Deprived, but not depraved: Prosocial behavior is an adaptive response to lower socioeconomic status

Robinson¹,

Piff²

2017

Behav Brain Sci

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Individuals of lower socioeconomic status (SES) display increased attentiveness to others and greater prosocial behavior compared to individuals of higher SES. We situate these effects within Pepper & Nettle's contextually appropriate response framework of SES. We argue that increased prosocial behavior is a contextually adaptive response for lower-SES individuals that serves to increase control over their more threatening social environments.

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“…The experience of having more or less wealth would have fluctuated across the decision-conditions and thus final generous decision-making may have been impacted by initial personal wealth in the round, rather than resource type alone. Indeed, past work suggests that lower socioeconomic status is associated with more prosocial behavior, compared to those who are more well-off (Piff et al, 2010, 2016). Note, however, that the results from this experiment also demonstrated that giving was higher when multiple resources were available compared to when a single, moderately-valued resource was available; in these two conditions total personal wealth was held constant.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How can I help you? Multiple resource availability promotes generosity with low-value (but not high-value) resources

Harrell

2021

Rationality and Society

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People commonly possess multiple, differentially-valued resources they can use to benefit those in need: contributing money, volunteering time, donating unwanted possessions, posting on social media to raise awareness, and more. But the majority of experimental work on generosity and helping behavior has studied giving when only a single valuable resource is available to give. This project considers: when people have multiple, differentially-valued resources to use to benefit a dependent other, which resources will they use to help, and how much? Results from an experiment show, first, that generosity is higher with lower-value resources. More importantly, when multiple, differentially-valued resources are available to use to benefit others, helping is higher than when a single resource is available, all else equal. This is because when multiple resources are available, people are especially willing to give away their relatively lower-value resources. Put differently, when people can benefit others using multiple resources, they are more likely to consider how they should help, rather than whether they should.

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Wealth and wrongdoing

Cited by 23 publications

References 71 publications

The behavioural constellation of deprivation: Causes and consequences

The behavioural constellation of deprivation: Causes and consequences

Deprived, but not depraved: Prosocial behavior is an adaptive response to lower socioeconomic status

How can I help you? Multiple resource availability promotes generosity with low-value (but not high-value) resources

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