It Pays to Be Classy [study]

People from higher social classes are most likely to find ways to ruin the careers of the scholars who wrote this new study, implies the study:

"Higher Social Class Predicts Increased Unethical Behavior," Paul K. Piff [pictured here], Daniel M. Stancato, Stéphane Côté, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, and Dacher Keltner, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. epub February 27, 2012. The authors explain:

"Seven studies using experimental and naturalistic methods reveal that upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals. In studies 1 and 2, upper-class individuals were more likely to break the law while driving, relative to lower-class individuals. In follow-up laboratory studies, upper-class individuals were more likely to exhibit unethical decision-making tendencies (study 3), take valued goods from others (study 4), lie in a negotiation (study 5), cheat to increase their chances of winning a prize (study 6), and endorse unethical behavior at work (study 7) than were lower-class individuals"

BONUS: Randy Dotinga gives his take in a HealthDay news article called "Are the Rich Really Different From You and Me?

(Thanks to investigator Hugh Henry for bringing this to our attention.