wealth addiction

Is "greed good" as declared by Gordon Gekko? Sam Polk's article in yesterday's New York Times suggests otherwise. In fact, he gives a candid account of the problem he had, attributing his own drive for money to "wealth addiction." Although he amassed a sizable fortune as a Wall Street trader a few years ago, he never felt he had enough. Personal introspection, with assistance from psychotherapy, led him to understand that his greed, and that of others in the industry, is essentially the same as that with drugs or alcohol. Polk has since left Wall Street for social activism, starting Groceryships, an organization working to promote nutrition education among poor families.

does money make you mean?

In this recent TED-Talk, UC Berkeley social psychologist, Paul Piff, provides research drawing from board game behavior that having wealth, even within a contrived situation, decreases concerned and caring behavior with regard to others. This research mirrors earlier findings of Piff reported in this blog regarding the relationship between wealth and socially irresponsible behavior (see http://sounequal.blogspot.com/2012/02/rich-are-indeed-different-they-are.html ).  

"the rich are indeed different..." they are greedier.

A new study conducted by social psychologists at the University of California, Berkeley suggests that the wealthy are more likely to engage in selfish behavior. The research design combined direct observation with various experiments, and consistently found the rich more inclined than the non-affluent to take unethical advantage of the situation or actually cheat others. While readers access to the Piff, et al. article is limited by a pay-wall, descriptions of this research are available through various online pieces published over the past day (e.g., see ScienceNow, CNN, and Bloomberg).