Are rich people meaner? Two teams find errors in each other’s work

The majority of wealthy people became that way by some combination of lying, cheating, stealing, fraud, misrepresentation, intimidation (extortion and/or blackmail), market manipulation, insider trading, aggressive selling to vulnerable people such as seniors, etc...... If you succeed on Wall Street, you're most likely engaging in that behavior. Do people actually think that most of these billionaires added billions in value? That every exchange is voluntary and makes each side better off? Is the old lady with dementia who unknowingly signed up to a terrible annuity "better off". Was the woman with dementia a "sucker" for signing up and placing trust in the broker? The ethical way to become rich is largely by inventing or innovating. Corporate raiders such as Kravis, Icahn and Peltz are very far from being moral. Arguably sociopaths with a mean streak. Surprised with the naive posts.

People often conflate nebulous “evil” with more specific rational self-interest, good investments and cheating&#x2F;underpaying&#x2F;stealing from people.<p>There are a lot of middling rich people whom do underpay people because it works and don’t care about long-term views of themselves or of the relationship... this can sabotage greater opportunities later on or current income streams now (it’s a small world and a hyperconnected one). There are many whom don’t because it also reflects poorly on them and their associates, and it turns off their friends, potential customers, investors and partners... also some people have integrity and wouldn’t dream of it.<p>In fact, the more connected someone is, the less likely they are to screw people over because it’s a bigger risk. The big headlines of harassment or scams are the exceptions. Certainly, there are instutions like many banks whom obscure their wealth extraction from less rich and transfer it to their investor&#x2F;owners. They are culpable but may not believe or realize they are.<p>Wealth is a spectrum, as are integrity and personality. How is squishy “science” going to “measure” take those nuances or mentally-compartmentalized&#x2F;hidden wealth transfer into account?

The game is selfish, players must be selfish or self-interested to survive. This game efficiently works out niceness&#x2F;sharing as a matter of survival.

I was super interested to read how they defined &quot;rich&quot;. Is it just networth greater than X? Is someone who saves diligently for 50 years to get X also rich in their definition?<p>Sadly those details appear to be behind a paywall and it seems what they really wanted to determine was the relationship between greedy attitudes and social economic status although their summary does use the word rich plenty, again, without defining it.

This is confirmation bias epitomized. Rich people mean? Or do rich people simply have a different view of the world than not-rich people? My kids think I am mean. They are not rich by comparison. The differences in our behaviors are the major reasons for our differences in incomes.

I think wealth can sometimes give a false sense of superiority and invincibility

Is this even a question?<p>Having spent my teenage years in what would otherwise be called a ghetto and now living in a wealthier suburb, poor neighborhoods have <i>way</i> more selfish assholes. I&#x27;m very glad I got out of there.<p>I think being an asshole hurts you more than is helps you as you get richer.

How do you define rich?