Does money make you mean? | Paul K. Piff | TEDxMarin
-
0:12 - 0:15It's really an honor
to be at such a distinguished gathering -
0:15 - 0:20and to have the opportunity
to talk to you about some of my research. -
0:20 - 0:22I want you to, for a moment,
-
0:22 - 0:25think about playing a game of Monopoly.
-
0:26 - 0:31Except in this game,
that combination of skill, talent and luck -
0:31 - 0:34that helped earn you success
in games, as in life, -
0:34 - 0:35has been rendered irrelevant,
-
0:35 - 0:38because this game's been rigged,
-
0:38 - 0:39and you've got the upper hand.
-
0:39 - 0:41You've got more money,
-
0:41 - 0:44more opportunities to move
around the board, -
0:44 - 0:46and more access to resources.
-
0:46 - 0:48And as you think about that experience,
-
0:48 - 0:49I want you to ask yourself:
-
0:50 - 0:55How might that experience of being
a privileged player in a rigged game -
0:55 - 0:57change the way you think about yourself
-
0:58 - 1:00and regard that other player?
-
1:02 - 1:05So, we ran a study
on the UC Berkeley campus -
1:05 - 1:07to look at exactly that question.
-
1:07 - 1:11We brought in more than 100 pairs
of strangers into the lab, -
1:12 - 1:13and with the flip of a coin,
-
1:13 - 1:17randomly assigned one of the two
to be a rich player in a rigged game. -
1:17 - 1:19They got two times as much money;
-
1:20 - 1:23when they passed Go,
they collected twice the salary; -
1:24 - 1:26and they got to roll
both dice instead of one, -
1:26 - 1:29so they got to move
around the board a lot more. -
1:29 - 1:30(Laughter)
-
1:31 - 1:32And over the course of 15 minutes,
-
1:32 - 1:35we watched through
hidden cameras what happened. -
1:36 - 1:38What I want to do today,
for the first time, -
1:38 - 1:40is show you a little bit of what we saw.
-
1:40 - 1:43You'll to have to pardon
the sound quality, -
1:43 - 1:45because again, these were hidden cameras.
-
1:45 - 1:46So we've provided subtitles.
-
1:47 - 1:49[Video] Rich Player: How many
500s did you have? -
1:49 - 1:50Poor Player: Just one.
-
1:50 - 1:52RP: Are you serious?
PP: Yeah. -
1:52 - 1:55RP: I have three. (Laughs)
I don't know why they gave me so much. -
1:55 - 1:58Paul Piff: So it was quickly apparent
to players that something was up. -
1:58 - 2:01One person clearly has
a lot more money than the other person, -
2:01 - 2:04and yet, as the game unfolded,
-
2:04 - 2:08we saw very notable differences,
dramatic differences begin to emerge -
2:08 - 2:10between the two players.
-
2:10 - 2:15The rich player started to move
around the board louder, -
2:15 - 2:18literally smacking the board
with the piece as he went around. -
2:18 - 2:19(Game piece smacks board)
-
2:19 - 2:22We were more likely
to see signs of dominance -
2:22 - 2:26and nonverbal signs, displays of power
-
2:26 - 2:29and celebration among the rich players.
-
2:30 - 2:33We had a bowl of pretzels
positioned off to the side. -
2:33 - 2:34It's on the bottom right corner.
-
2:34 - 2:38That allowed us to watch
participants' consummatory behavior. -
2:38 - 2:41So we're just tracking
how many pretzels participants eat. -
2:42 - 2:44[Video] RP: Are those pretzels a trick?
-
2:44 - 2:46PP: I don't know.
-
2:46 - 2:50Paul Piff: OK, so no surprises,
people are on to us. -
2:50 - 2:53They wonder what that bowl of pretzels
is doing there in the first place. -
2:53 - 2:55One even asks, like you just saw,
-
2:55 - 2:57"Is that bowl of pretzels
there as a trick?" -
2:58 - 3:01And yet, despite that,
the power of the situation -
3:01 - 3:03seems to inevitably dominate,
-
3:03 - 3:06and those rich players
start to eat more pretzels. -
3:06 - 3:07(Laughter)
-
3:11 - 3:12[Video] RP: I love pretzels.
-
3:12 - 3:14(Laughter)
-
3:17 - 3:19Paul Piff: And as the game went on,
-
3:19 - 3:22one of the really interesting
and dramatic patterns -
3:22 - 3:24that we observed begin to emerge
-
3:25 - 3:28was that the rich players
actually started to become ruder -
3:28 - 3:29toward the other person --
-
3:30 - 3:33less and less sensitive to the plight
of those poor, poor players, -
3:33 - 3:37and more and more demonstrative
of their material success, -
3:38 - 3:40more likely to showcase
how well they're doing. -
3:43 - 3:44[Video] RP: I have money ...
-
3:44 - 3:46(Laughs) I have money for everything.
-
3:47 - 3:48PP: How much is that?
-
3:48 - 3:50RP: You owe me 24 dollars.
-
3:52 - 3:55You're going to lose all your money soon.
-
3:55 - 3:57I'll buy it. I have so much money.
-
3:57 - 3:59I have so much money, it takes me forever.
-
3:59 - 4:01RP 2: I'm going
to buy out this whole board. -
4:01 - 4:03RP 3: You're going
to run out of money soon. -
4:03 - 4:05I'm pretty much untouchable at this point.
-
4:05 - 4:07(Laughter)
-
4:07 - 4:10Paul Piff: And here's what I think
was really, really interesting: -
4:10 - 4:12it's that, at the end of the 15 minutes,
-
4:13 - 4:16we asked the players to talk
about their experience during the game. -
4:17 - 4:21And when the rich players talked
about why they had inevitably won -
4:21 - 4:23in this rigged game of Monopoly ...
-
4:23 - 4:27(Laughter)
-
4:28 - 4:35They talked about what they'd done
to buy those different properties -
4:35 - 4:37and earn their success in the game.
-
4:37 - 4:38(Laughter)
-
4:38 - 4:40And they became far less attuned
-
4:40 - 4:43to all those different
features of the situation -- -
4:43 - 4:45including that flip of a coin --
-
4:45 - 4:49that had randomly gotten them
into that privileged position -
4:49 - 4:51in the first place.
-
4:51 - 4:53And that's a really,
really incredible insight -
4:53 - 4:57into how the mind
makes sense of advantage. -
4:59 - 5:01Now, this game of Monopoly can be used
-
5:01 - 5:06as a metaphor for understanding society
and its hierarchical structure, -
5:06 - 5:10wherein some people
have a lot of wealth and a lot of status, -
5:10 - 5:11and a lot of people don't;
-
5:11 - 5:14they have a lot less wealth
and a lot less status -
5:14 - 5:17and a lot less access to valued resources.
-
5:17 - 5:21And what my colleagues and I
for the last seven years have been doing -
5:21 - 5:23is studying the effects
of these kinds of hierarchies. -
5:24 - 5:28What we've been finding
across dozens of studies -
5:28 - 5:31and thousands of participants
across this country -
5:31 - 5:35is that as a person's levels
of wealth increase, -
5:36 - 5:40their feelings of compassion
and empathy go down, -
5:42 - 5:45and their feelings of entitlement,
of deservingness, -
5:45 - 5:49and their ideology
of self-interest increase. -
5:50 - 5:52In surveys, we've found
-
5:52 - 5:55that it's actually wealthier individuals
who are more likely to moralize -
5:55 - 5:57greed being good,
-
5:57 - 6:01and that the pursuit of self-interest
is favorable and moral. -
6:02 - 6:05Now, what I want to do today
is talk about some of the implications -
6:05 - 6:07of this ideology self-interest,
-
6:08 - 6:11talk about why we should
care about those implications, -
6:11 - 6:13and end with what might be done.
-
6:14 - 6:17Some of the first studies
that we ran in this area -
6:17 - 6:18looked at helping behavior,
-
6:18 - 6:21something social psychologists
call "pro-social behavior." -
6:22 - 6:24And we were really interested
-
6:24 - 6:27in who's more likely
to offer help to another person: -
6:27 - 6:29someone who's rich or someone who's poor.
-
6:30 - 6:32In one of the studies,
-
6:32 - 6:37we bring rich and poor members
of the community into the lab, -
6:37 - 6:40and give each of them
the equivalent of 10 dollars. -
6:40 - 6:45We told the participants they could keep
these 10 dollars for themselves, -
6:45 - 6:48or they could share
a portion of it, if they wanted to, -
6:48 - 6:50with a stranger, who's totally anonymous.
-
6:50 - 6:53They'll never meet that stranger;
the stranger will never meet them. -
6:53 - 6:56And we just monitor how much people give.
-
6:56 - 7:01Individuals who made 25,000,
sometimes under 15,000 dollars a year, -
7:01 - 7:04gave 44 percent more
of their money to the stranger -
7:04 - 7:08than did individuals making
150,000, 200,000 dollars a year. -
7:10 - 7:12We've had people play games
-
7:13 - 7:15to see who's more or less likely to cheat
-
7:15 - 7:18to increase their chances
of winning a prize. -
7:18 - 7:20In one of the games,
we actually rigged a computer -
7:20 - 7:24so that die rolls over a certain score
were impossible -- -
7:24 - 7:28You couldn't get above 12
in this game, and yet ... -
7:29 - 7:32the richer you were, the more likely
you were to cheat in this game -
7:32 - 7:35to earn credits toward a $50 cash prize --
-
7:36 - 7:38sometimes by three to four times as much.
-
7:40 - 7:41We ran another study
-
7:41 - 7:45where we looked at whether people
would be inclined to take candy -
7:45 - 7:48from a jar of candy
that we explicitly identified -
7:48 - 7:50as being reserved for children --
-
7:50 - 7:53(Laughter)
-
7:53 - 7:54Participating -
-
7:54 - 7:58I'm not kidding -- I know it sounds
like I'm making a joke. -
7:58 - 8:00We explicitly told participants:
-
8:00 - 8:05"This candy is for children participating
in a developmental lab nearby. -
8:05 - 8:07They're in studies. This is for them."
-
8:07 - 8:10And we just monitored
how much candy participants took. -
8:10 - 8:13Participants who felt rich
took two times as much candy -
8:13 - 8:15as participants who felt poor.
-
8:16 - 8:18We've even studied cars.
-
8:19 - 8:21Not just any cars,
-
8:21 - 8:24but whether drivers
of different kinds of cars -
8:24 - 8:27are more or less inclined
to break the law. -
8:27 - 8:29In one of these studies,
-
8:29 - 8:34we looked at whether drivers
would stop for a pedestrian -
8:34 - 8:37that we had posed waiting
to cross at a crosswalk. -
8:37 - 8:39Now in California, as you all know,
-
8:39 - 8:41because I'm sure we all do this,
-
8:41 - 8:45it's the law to stop for a pedestrian
who's waiting to cross. -
8:45 - 8:47So here's an example of how we did it.
-
8:47 - 8:51That's our confederate off to the left,
posing as a pedestrian. -
8:51 - 8:55He approaches as the red truck
successfully stops. -
8:55 - 8:57In typical California fashion,
-
8:57 - 9:00it's overtaken by the bus
who almost runs our pedestrian over. -
9:00 - 9:01(Laughter)
-
9:01 - 9:03Now here's an example
of a more expensive car, -
9:03 - 9:08a Prius, driving through,
and a BMW doing the same. -
9:10 - 9:13So we did this for hundreds of vehicles
-
9:13 - 9:15on several days,
-
9:15 - 9:18just tracking who stops and who doesn't.
-
9:19 - 9:24What we found was as the expensiveness
of a car increased ... -
9:24 - 9:26(Laughter)
-
9:26 - 9:29the drivers' tendencies
to break the law increased as well. -
9:29 - 9:32None of the cars -- none of the cars --
-
9:32 - 9:35in our least expensive car category
-
9:35 - 9:36broke the law.
-
9:36 - 9:41Close to 50 percent of the cars
in our most expensive vehicle category -
9:41 - 9:43broke the law.
-
9:44 - 9:45We've run other studies,
-
9:46 - 9:49finding that wealthier individuals
are more likely to lie in negotiations, -
9:49 - 9:52to endorse unethical behavior at work,
-
9:52 - 9:54like stealing cash from the cash register,
-
9:54 - 9:57taking bribes, lying to customers.
-
9:59 - 10:01Now, I don't mean to suggest
-
10:01 - 10:05that it's only wealthy people
who show these patterns of behavior. -
10:05 - 10:07Not at all -- in fact,
I think that we all, -
10:07 - 10:10in our day-to-day, minute-by-minute lives,
-
10:10 - 10:13struggle with these competing motivations
-
10:13 - 10:19of when or if to put our own interests
above the interests of other people. -
10:19 - 10:21And that's understandable,
-
10:21 - 10:24because the American dream is an idea
-
10:24 - 10:29in which we all have an equal opportunity
to succeed and prosper, -
10:29 - 10:32as long as we apply
ourselves and work hard. -
10:32 - 10:34And a piece of that means that sometimes,
-
10:34 - 10:37you need to put your own interests
-
10:37 - 10:41above the interests and well-being
of other people around you. -
10:41 - 10:44But what we're finding
is that the wealthier you are, -
10:44 - 10:48the more likely you are to pursue
a vision of personal success, -
10:48 - 10:50of achievement and accomplishment,
-
10:50 - 10:53to the detriment of others around you.
-
10:55 - 10:59Here I've plotted for you
the mean household income -
10:59 - 11:02received by each fifth
and top five percent of the population -
11:02 - 11:04over the last 20 years.
-
11:05 - 11:06In 1993,
-
11:06 - 11:09the differences between the different
quintiles of the population, -
11:09 - 11:10in terms of income,
-
11:10 - 11:12are fairly egregious.
-
11:13 - 11:15It's not difficult to discern
that there are differences. -
11:15 - 11:18But over the last 20 years,
that significant difference -
11:18 - 11:21has become a Grand Canyon of sorts
-
11:21 - 11:24between those at the top
and everyone else. -
11:24 - 11:27In fact, the top 20 percent
of our population -
11:27 - 11:30own close to 90 percent
of the total wealth in this country. -
11:30 - 11:34We're at unprecedented levels
of economic inequality. -
11:37 - 11:41What that means is that wealth is not only
becoming increasingly concentrated -
11:41 - 11:44in the hands of a select group
of individuals, -
11:44 - 11:48but the American dream
is becoming increasingly unattainable -
11:48 - 11:50for an increasing majority of us.
-
11:51 - 11:54And if it's the case,
as we've been finding, -
11:54 - 11:55that the wealthier you are,
-
11:56 - 11:58the more entitled you feel to that wealth,
-
11:58 - 12:01and the more likely you are
to prioritize your own interests -
12:01 - 12:03above the interests of other people,
-
12:03 - 12:06and be willing to do things
to serve that self-interest, -
12:06 - 12:10well, then, there's no reason to think
that those patterns will change. -
12:10 - 12:14In fact, there's every reason
to think that they'll only get worse, -
12:14 - 12:17and that's what it would look like
if things just stayed the same, -
12:17 - 12:20at the same linear rate,
over the next 20 years. -
12:21 - 12:24Now inequality -- economic inequality --
-
12:24 - 12:26is something we should
all be concerned about, -
12:26 - 12:30and not just because of those
at the bottom of the social hierarchy, -
12:30 - 12:32but because individuals and groups
-
12:32 - 12:37with lots of economic
inequality do worse ... -
12:37 - 12:40not just the people
at the bottom, everyone. -
12:40 - 12:42There's a lot of really
compelling research -
12:42 - 12:45coming out from top labs
all over the world, -
12:45 - 12:50showcasing the range of things
that are undermined -
12:50 - 12:52as economic inequality gets worse.
-
12:52 - 12:55Social mobility,
things we really care about, -
12:55 - 12:58physical health, social trust,
-
12:58 - 13:00all go down as inequality goes up.
-
13:00 - 13:05Similarly, negative things
in social collectives and societies, -
13:05 - 13:07things like obesity, and violence,
-
13:07 - 13:09imprisonment, and punishment,
-
13:09 - 13:13are exacerbated as economic
inequality increases. -
13:13 - 13:16Again, these are outcomes
not just experienced by a few, -
13:16 - 13:20but that resound
across all strata of society. -
13:20 - 13:23Even people at the top
experience these outcomes. -
13:25 - 13:27So what do we do?
-
13:29 - 13:33This cascade of self-perpetuating,
-
13:33 - 13:35pernicious, negative effects
-
13:35 - 13:39could seem like something
that's spun out of control, -
13:39 - 13:41and there's nothing we can do about it,
-
13:41 - 13:43certainly nothing
we as individuals could do. -
13:44 - 13:50But in fact, we've been finding
in our own laboratory research -
13:51 - 13:56that small psychological interventions,
-
13:56 - 13:59small changes to people's values,
-
13:59 - 14:03small nudges in certain directions,
-
14:03 - 14:06can restore levels
of egalitarianism and empathy. -
14:06 - 14:10For instance, reminding people
of the benefits of cooperation -
14:11 - 14:13or the advantages of community,
-
14:14 - 14:18cause wealthier individuals
to be just as egalitarian -
14:18 - 14:19as poor people.
-
14:20 - 14:26In one study, we had people watch
a brief video, just 46 seconds long, -
14:26 - 14:27about childhood poverty
-
14:28 - 14:32that served as a reminder of the needs
of others in the world around them. -
14:33 - 14:35And after watching that,
-
14:35 - 14:38we looked at how willing people
were to offer up their own time -
14:39 - 14:43to a stranger presented to them
in the lab, who was in distress. -
14:44 - 14:47After watching this video, an hour later,
-
14:47 - 14:50rich people became
just as generous of their own time -
14:50 - 14:53to help out this other person, a stranger,
-
14:53 - 14:54as someone who's poor,
-
14:54 - 14:58suggesting that these differences
are not innate or categorical, -
14:58 - 15:02but are so malleable
to slight changes in people's values, -
15:02 - 15:06and little nudges of compassion
and bumps of empathy. -
15:07 - 15:08And beyond the walls of our lab,
-
15:08 - 15:12we're even beginning to see
signs of change in society. -
15:12 - 15:16Bill Gates, one of our nation's
wealthiest individuals, -
15:16 - 15:18in his Harvard commencement speech,
-
15:18 - 15:21talked about the problem
of inequality facing society -
15:21 - 15:24as being the most daunting challenge,
-
15:24 - 15:27and talked about what must
be done to combat it, -
15:27 - 15:32saying, "Humanity's greatest advances
are not in its discoveries -- -
15:32 - 15:35but in how those discoveries are applied
-
15:35 - 15:37to reduce inequity."
-
15:37 - 15:39And there's the Giving Pledge,
-
15:39 - 15:43in which more than 100
of our nation's wealthiest individuals -
15:44 - 15:47are pledging half
of their fortunes to charity. -
15:48 - 15:52And there's the emergence of dozens
of grassroots movements, -
15:53 - 15:55like "We are the 1 percent,"
-
15:56 - 15:57"Resource Generation,"
-
15:58 - 16:00or "Wealth for Common Good,"
-
16:00 - 16:04in which the most privileged
members of the population, -
16:04 - 16:07members of the one percent and elsewhere,
-
16:07 - 16:09people who are wealthy,
-
16:09 - 16:13are using their own economic resources,
-
16:13 - 16:17adults and youth alike --
that's what's most striking to me -- -
16:17 - 16:21leveraging their own privilege,
their own economic resources, -
16:21 - 16:24to combat inequality
-
16:24 - 16:26by advocating for social policies,
-
16:27 - 16:29changes in social values
-
16:29 - 16:31and changes in people's behavior
-
16:31 - 16:34that work against
their own economic interests, -
16:34 - 16:37but that may ultimately
restore the American dream. -
16:38 - 16:39Thank you.
-
16:39 - 16:45(Applause)
- Title:
- Does money make you mean? | Paul K. Piff | TEDxMarin
- Description:
-
It's amazing what a rigged game of Monopoly can reveal. In this entertaining but sobering talk, social psychologist Paul Piff shares his research into how people behave when they feel wealthy. (Hint: badly.) But while the problem of inequality is a complex and daunting challenge, there's good news too.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 16:53
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for The science of greed: Paul K. Piff at TEDxMarin 2013 | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for The science of greed: Paul K. Piff at TEDxMarin 2013 |