Does money make you mean? | Paul Piff

[@job2k6]

Give this presentation in a poor part of town and see how much laughter you get.

[@Thegoldenchild415]

The laughter was pissing me off.. "Capital in the 21st century" on Netflix brought me here.

[@growbird766]

I was just thinking the same thing

[@sunpy7908]

This was done in Marin, there is no poor part of town

[@patrick7742]

@@Thegoldenchild415 That just means he was talking to the right crowd for the subject matter. The ones that need to hear it.

[@Frances270]

Isn't that the truth!

[@droyal18able]

What's crazy to me is all the rich people in the audience who seemed to think they were at a comedy club.

[@chavesa5]

Yeah you can actually see the cognitive dissonance as most of that audience thinks "well I'm sure glad I'm not one of those people!"

[@kittkattism]

This year, accepted a position in a new job, that pays less. I deal with financial stress daily. Recently I was invited out to dinner with a handful of co workers above me on the financial ladder. As we walked into the restaurant, we passed a homeless man asking for money to get food. I watch as all of the people I was with, walked passed him, doing their best to ignore his very presence. I smiled at him and kept walking. Not wanting to give money, but unable to ignore a person asking for food. I could barely afford a small meal, but ordered two. One was to-go. We got our food, and I gave the second meal to the man outside. He was in near tears thanking me. Then quickly ate the food. Other people suddenly seemed to see him. Some game him money as they left. As we were leaving, he was buying food from a food truck parked outside with the money he was given. Counting out to the change, in nickels, dimes, and pennies. He smiled again and waved as I left.

[@Momo-hh6er]

You know I should do what you do. I feel pretty uncomfortable ignoring poor people a lot.

[@edwinlee2343]

and then everybody clapped

[@johnnythunder196]

and then he went and bought malt liquor with the rest of the money

[@hippychikforever]

@@johnnythunder196 Who cares what he did with it. If you lived in a constant state of stress, anxiety, and pain, you'd probably want to numb yourself too. I am called to help poor people. What they do with that help is between them and their god.

[@ProfessorDesiree]

@@johnnythunder196 I say if they’re that down and out, who am I to tell them not to buy some booze with the money I give them? Once I give it to them, it’s there’s, not mine. If I was in their shoes, I would want to be able to get a bottle of wine to numb the pain and help me sleep on my concrete bed.

[@barbaraLJ]

The laughter from the audience kept making me cringe and shake my head, "why are they laughing???" Then I realized, oh yeah it's TED, most of these people are probably pretty well-off or wealthy and people laugh at what makes them uncomfortable . That or they wanted to dissociate.

[@stormsigma]

My thoughts as well.

[@Totumfacky]

But the monopoly situations were funny, imagine watching a slapstick movie depicting such situations. That short gameplay videos just looked like this.

[@cockeyedoptimista]

Yeah, I was surprised by the laughter of the audience. It wasn't a comedy show. I felt sort of pressured to laugh myself (silly)! I don't know if your assessment is correct; I guess they would be well-off and th at's a pretty insightful thought, but maybe it was just a strange bunch or that people felt they should be laughing somehow. If seemed like even the speaker was a bit surprised at the laughter. Glad you noted this, though: it was peculiar. I found myself trying to check my own behavior instead.

[@turiyasega]

@@cockeyedoptimista I would argue that the assessment is most likely valid. This is TEDxMarin which is in Marin County, California. The average household income in Marin is roughly $158,000/year. Marin is also among the top 5 richest counties in the entire United States. Definitely uneasy laughter from a very wealthy crowd uncomfortable with being called out

[@Kentavious444]

I think it was important to keep the conversation lighthearted as opposed to condescending. It gave people the chance to laugh at their misconceptions instead of being "called out". I think the message is more accepted in this way instead of knee-jerk defensiveness and rationalization.

[@dachr2]

It's quite striking how well this also describes a lot of playes in online games who have progressed further than most others.

[@spunz83ify]

Michavelli has beat this guy centuries ago when he said "behind every great wealth is a great crime."

[@cockeyedoptimista]

@Natalie Jones Thks for posting correct spelling of Machiavelli. Whew, that's a kind of hard one.

[@cockeyedoptimista]

Do you think that is really true? Maybe just Great wealth. People who work hard can get rich. Great comment, though.

[@Chopinwannabe7556]

Sounds like Bill Gates is the most wanted criminal in the world.

[@duncanbeck5778]

Jackson McAvoy he sure should be

[@rayellejohnson9961]

@@cockeyedoptimista The people that I know that make a lot of money inherited the money to start or they ran a scam to acquire the wealth/capital. (Could be taxes or insurance fraud) Yes maybe 20 years late every thing seems clean but when they started it wasnt as such.

[@Tabacof]

When I got into college in Brazil I participated to a hazing activity where I had to ask for money on traffic stops. Surprisingly, poor people were much more compassionate and always gave some money, while rich people wouldn't even open their windows or they actually gave less money.

[@MrPugilist1]

Glad they found it funny. I didn't find any of this remotely amusing.

[@cockeyedoptimista]

Agreed! Not funny; didn't occur to me to laugh.

[@alexandraxox]

@Branden Wright it clearly wasn’t meant to be funny though

[@billbobbophen]

@Branden Wright the laughter was so mistimed and out of sync with what the presenter was clearly going for. Ive watched many a TED talk and the laughter on this one feels off since the first time they laugh. I'm not quick to assign some social significance or theory to this, because I've seen tough or easy crowds before, but the laughter is definitely out of place. Seems a bit disingenuous to say "its just humor" when half the people in these comments also noticed something off about the laughter

[@peterbilt8799]

I found it not funny but very truthful.

[@protohass]

I've heard about this test on other videos about money and it isn't funny it just shows how wealth can manipulate you

[@realfoodcures]

The audience is laughing because it’s true. That’s how comedy works - exposing thoughts you don’t talk about or are hidden deep in your brain.

[@ernestoberger7589]

Oh, please, the whole thing is a string of fallacies and stupid games the guy designed to tilt those behaviours, it had nothing to do with the real world.

[@cammack07]

Yeah tell that to the next beggar you ignore.

[@blindey]

@@ernestoberger7589 Do you know the origin of the game? It was called The Landlord Game in order to present why capitalism is bad: It concentrates wealth. But real life is worse than that because at least in the game it's random when it's not as much in real life.

[@JewelChick01]

Yes. It's called "laughter of recognition."

[@GtTingles]

I've become meaner as I've made more money. Since I was dirt poor and now have a six figure income, the difference is unavoidable. Main reason I'm less compassionate is there is a self serving need to nice and giving to the community when you're poor. You need everyone's help to get by. When you have some money you don't need anyone and it's easy to shrug off other people's problems

[@minimoYT]

I wonder, how much money is "enough" for people to think "yeah, I got mine, might as well do some good deeds". Like, if you have so much money that you never have to worry about it again, why wouldn't one just use the excess to help others? Like charities, friends and family in need, etc. Maybe it's because I'm giga broke at the moment, but I just can't fathom why having money makes one more selfish, when it's money that enables people to help others without any real cost or consequence to themselves

[@MikePhillips2000]

@@minimoYT They did that study. Anything above $75,000/year doesn't make you any happier. I'm sure that number will rise due to inflation.

[@toyfischer]

if youve noticed when you have become meaner as your wealth increased are you just proud of that fact? you didnt say youre ashamed of that or what steps you took to correct it. i would say rich people should look to history when the wealth inequality reaches a breaking point. the french revolution is a prime example. what happened to the rich then. most lost their lands their fortunes and even their heads. so if you have been lucky enough to make it in our rigged game where the very few are lucky enough to climb the ladder and then realize it cost you some of your humanity for gods sake why dont you change that about yourself. you talk about poor people being nice bc they need the community, thats not it at all. they empathize with those who are hurting bc they themselves know what its like. remember when you were dirt poor and thank the luck of the draw that allows you not to be but realize you can do far more for the community you still belong too than multiple poor people and if you did you would not even be hurting yourself. please give that some thought

[@Firsona]

It serves me in no way to give to people I will never see again. That's not why I do it. I do it because there have been times I was hungry. Times I was cold. Times I had no where to go. While I'm not rich, I'm not even comfortable, I can go the dollar store and fill a couple grocery bags with food that can be eaten without being heated, and things like wipes and sunscreen and hot hands packs and give them out to people I see on the side of the road. So, perhaps it's self serving in a way because it makes me feel nice, but there's no monetary or social gain in it for myself. If you look at it as, I got mine, screw everyone else, maybe you were never really as poor as you're saying. Or you've always been a mean person, and you're now in a position that you're fine showing it to the world.

[@kakashi76767]

I think having lots of money makes people feel guilty, and they fight off that guilt by convincing themselves that all poor people deserve to be poor because of some kind of inherent personality flaw or lack of skill, as opposed to lack of opportunity or bad luck. The fundamental attribution error also plays a part. It is the tendency to attribute one's own success to one's own skill, and one's failures to bad luck, while attributing the success of others to good luck, and their failures to their lack of skill.

[@kaboom3922]

read Aristotle and philosophy books Neche and a lot of people find these things' out and they can help confirm or deny your opinions

[@shawnieleaf2277]

I worked with him as an undergraduate at UCI. What’s so surprising is that his monopoly studies were never picked up for publication.

[@Asphodel123456]

Why was it rejected?

[@JewelChick01]

@@Asphodel123456 I think we know why. Have you ever heard of a poor publisher?

[@hcmehdi6902]

I would summarize this talk as being all about the inebriating effects of the inflated ego. Nice to see such careful study put together in such a well rounded talk. But let's face it, this is an observation of the human condition that goes back thousands of years and plenty of moral leaders have written about these behaviors and how best to combat them.

[@jamesedward3619]

Maintaining a certain level of income equality actually is in the self interest of the rich. If income inequality becomes too massive, that's when revolutions occur. Not only that, but a large well off middle class allows the rich to maintain their wealth over a longer period, because without that well off middle class, who is buying superfluous products and services?

[@cammack07]

Obviously a small level is beneficial. But history tells us - as you said - that when wealth inequality becomes ludicrous the pitchforks come out.

[@sethgaston8347]

@@cammack07 Weapons and warfare have advanced to the point where I don't that poor people with no military training or leadership knowledge have any chance of leading a revolt. They'd get fucking decimated.

[@michaeldavies9446]

Agree. This PR for the rich is an effort to counter the 'occupy wall street' effect.

[@tsuyoshior]

He totally blew up the conclusion. When you unmistakably know that economic Inequality is the root of all problems, you don't patch with a new social policy or cover up with psychological diversion. Change economic policy to promote economic equality. Simple as that!

[@DeathnoteBB]

Social issues are the root of economic issues… Look up redlining for instance.

[@sharcs]

Reminds me of one of my clients, the guy is worth millions. I should know, he's given me access to a lot of his financial stuff coz of the nature of the work I do for him. Sometimes I also work as a technician for all sorts of events and while working for him one afternoon, he asked me to stay and help out because the event ran a little longer than planned. I ended up staying for an extra 5 hours and at the end of the evening he paid me just for the 4hrs we had agreed. I asked him about the extra 5 hrs and he said he said he thought I was just doing it for him as a favour. I told him work is work and he has to pay for it, he took his wallet out, gave me £5 and said he didn't even have to do that because we didn't have an agreement. He was right, there was nothing I could do about it.

[@havenbastion]

When you're wealthy/privileged/integrated, things are working out for you so of course you believe you have the right understanding. What's not clear to you is that being successful in a rigged game only makes you right about perpetuating and working within wrongness. As long as people who support wrongness support each other, it's a self-perpetuating problem. People need to see that success in a failing society is not a good thing. Changing society so that success in linked to merit is a good thing.

[@cammack07]

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I’m not “successful” if that means ludicrously rich (like at all), but barring a revolution, you have to play the game to an extent.

[@sethgaston8347]

I like that you mentioned merit, I don't like socialism at all, but I love the idea of a meritocracy. Something we really need to think on though is that a meritocracy will not be equal at all, and it most likely will divide families and gender very strongly. Women are gonna become second class citizens, that mental stress will cause irreparable harm to their children especially daughters, unless they're treated like slaves (which is worse) or if the male population is primarily composed of clones. 🤔

[@havenbastion]

@@sethgaston8347 That's only a problem if we see/treat people as members of a class instead of as individuals.

[@toyfischer]

americans still have this notion that we are a society based on egalitarianism. we are not. there are plenty of laws that have led to the level of income inequality we see today. a lot of the wealthy people basically won the lottery by being born to a family who gained a ton of land for free in the homestead act, or their relatives got a free home and then free educations but then made laws so the future generations couldnt have the same. if your skin was brown you got none of these. no gi bill after ww2 no homestead act and being that wealth is most commonly brought on through inheritence they believe somehow they worked harder when the hardest labor is done by the poor. thats a fact. sitting at a desk crunching numbers on a computer is not as hard as digging a pipeline or picking fruit in 100 degree weather. if you argue it is then you try it.

[@toyfischer]

the game is rigged and has been from the start. your chances of becoming the one percent is less than one percent. no matter how hard you work. greed is this countries motto and until the 99 pct realize its rigged than it will get worse. this is why democratic socialism is the way to go. to start making the musks, gates, be more like the rockefellers and fords who were still dollar for dollar richer than the former yet paid nearly 90 pct tax and were still the richest men on earth at the time. the rich must pay their fair share and be held to account . we must unrig the game

[@srimansrini]

This is a wonderful talk about our behavior. How inequality affect our behavior and what can be done to sort this issue is well researched, expertly explained and succinctly presented by Paul Piff. Money certainly makes us mean. I mean, if you are rich mostly probably you will be very mean...Changing this trend is no mean task but we have to do it to find the true meaning of our life. Highly recommended.

[@katrinaaune5168]

Open School ✨🙏✨⭐️😽💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋

[@katrinaaune5168]

Thank you for being one to give me hope of our future.

[@Knossos22]

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” ― John Kenneth Galbraith

[@JSteph70]

My first house was in a middle income working class neighborhood. Everyone was pretty friendly, helpful, sharing. I eventually moved in to a more expensive larger house in another neighborhood and found the people there very different, lots of snobs. It was really only one step in home value, but the atmosphere is so different. I think I want to move back.

[@cockeyedoptimista]

Did you move back? Did people get friendlier? Is it hard to choose between the nicer new house and yard vs the friendlier neighborhood? It would be cool if you moved back. Or maybe if you started the friendlier stuff in the new neighb', it would catch on. I've found smaller towns to be much friendlied.

[@zarkoff45]

I am suspicious of the recommendations made here - let's subtly encourage the wealthy to be better. What I think are needed are better laws so that tax payers are not continually ripped off by things like the banking bailout. Crony capitalism has gone too far -- the people with money control our politics. Some of these recommendations look more like placebos. But I do like his evidence.

[@Alex-iv5xc]

agreed. the giving pledge should not exist, because that wealth should already be getting redistributed through taxes, and those taxes should go towards establishing a national healthcare system rather than going to defense contracts for firms like Halliburton.

[@talhahtaco2035]

I applaud your optimism but what you ask is imposible for our society, as you admit the rich control the political system and won't allow change so unless some people decide to cause a second civil war, nothing will change

[@xiaolintraditional90]

why did we need a study to see that money makes people assholes. I thought it was common sense all along!...or maybe it's just because I'm dirt poor

[@Chopinwannabe7556]

Money doesn't make people repulsive, it just exposes what was already there.

[@nunyabidnis3815]

@@Chopinwannabe7556 It also reinforces and creates a positive feedback loop for traits that would otherwise be dormant, or at least not dominant, in the processing of social factors and how we navigate them.

[@DazraelArianos]

@@nunyabidnis3815 Some people don't take positive feedback for negative actions as positive though. A good person being rewarded for something bad will argue the point rather than do more bad to get more personal reward.

[@rr23377]

one of the best well-spoken, detailed and attention capturing ted talks i've seen!

[@BlondeManNoName]

Greed is the cancer of this planet.

[@keydrip]

I think cancer is the cancer of this planet.

[@Chopinwannabe7556]

Thank goodness that we have a capitalist system that channels greed to make altruism.

[@havenbastion]

There is only one political problem - resource allocation.

[@elm6090]

No, separation and individuation is. We are all individuals sprung from the same consciousness. We forgot.

[@nope8083]

@@Chopinwannabe7556 capitalism channels greed into selflessness? please, tell me how so. especially after watching this video.

[@allybaapp1053]

The audience laughter is so out of place.

[@allybaapp1053]

_The_

[@KedaiNasi]

don't be surprised that even a billionaire who shares his secret to live happy & make much more money (which costs you thousands to learn it) in TED Talk gets ridiculed. I don't blame the audience though.. you can't control them (unless you find good audience yourself beforehand)

[@janroos1992]

Well, I believe it is because they don´t see the bigger picture in the beginning of the speech, just "innocent, childlike" behaviour during a rigged board game. Truth is this is the returning theme of humanity: Too much power to a few creates terrible societies. But collectivism also creates huge problems. We need to take this dark aspect of human nature into account when making society systems, or we just keep repeating history.

[@My_Garmonbozia]

I genuinely believe that some of the people are laughing because they are uncomfortable.

[@mooncalf191]

@@My_Garmonbozia I completely agree. It sounds like wealthy people laughing uncomfortably because they're feeling exposed and vulnerable. The times they are a'changing.

[@lagaman11]

LOVE THIS! At 45 years of age, I have lived on this planet long enough to already know what he is saying is true, and it feels so good to actualy have hard studies to back up what I have always known. The richer your are, the worse you are.

[@scottandrews947]

Now you're 52. How does that feel?

[@oneilsmiley7580]

@@scottandrews947 lol I hope he increased in networth and can elaborate on what it’s feeling like now if he got mean or not.

[@MarkWillmore]

Who said worse? I only see positive stuff actually 😂

[@thefreakybean2495]

During class we watched this and couldn’t get over the fact that they kept laughing. It’s so absurd.

[@ernestoberger7589]

Because his presentation is nothing but a pack of lies. Anyone who studies charity knows that this is not true. There are a lot of ways to measure this, he clearly tilted the results to match his preconceived idea.

[@YoSo14]

@@ernestoberger7589 echo chamber much?

[@ernestoberger7589]

@@YoSo14 I would say you are projecting if I didn't know that strategy is exactly accusing others of what you are and of doing what you do. About 80 to 90% of millionaires in America are people who got rich by saving their entire life. Is the study address those people? Of course not. You don't need to get rich people, you can get criminal lawyers and prosecutors - any aggressive profession- to see those traits. But they cherry-picked high aggressive entrepreneurs. Money has nothing to do with it. This study should be a model of the obscurantism we have seen coming from social studies, where all sort of biases are "proved" by poorly-executed and manipulated studies.

[@DeathnoteBB]

@@ernestoberger7589 You are talking but saying nothing

[@ernestoberger7589]

@@DeathnoteBB I can totally see how this comment of yours makes you have the illusion you are refuting something even though you haven't even entered the discussion. Most millionaires get to that level by saving and amassing that value in their equity. They are regular people. This study narrowed "money" to people in highly competitive positions, like in the corporate ladder, financial markets, law firms, etc. This is a small fraction of people who get to be a millionaire, for instance. There are people who are in very aggressive, competitive jobs and never get rich. Hence, it is not money that makes people that way. This is clearly an invertion of cause and effect. People with low consciousness and high aggressiveness get what they want more easily, the same in academia and politics, not just in business. Jerks get what they want more easily more often than not, it is not the money that rendered them jerks. This study is a sham.

[@xpoisonthewell]

The ironic part of all of this is that the majority of the audience is wealthy.

[@Kris-lu1rs]

Rich people listening to a guy telling them how rich people behave? explain why this is ironic.

[@markm7101]

But now the rich folks can afford to get the counseling to be both wealthy and nice LOL.

[@lauriackley7472]

@@markm7101 . . .

[@e7venjedi]

8:56 I like how the BMW moves over into the other lane slightly, trying to create more of a gap between the pedestrian that they clearly saw, and ironically, also doing another rude/illegal move: chilling in 2 lanes at once.

[@robinschaufler444]

He had me up until he started touting The Giving Pledge. Well, in philanthropy, the philanthropist decides where to endow his wealth. In a progressively taxed democracy, the People decide where to endow the commonwealth. The philanthropist may decide to give everything to their favorite opera companies. Nothing against opera, but I don't think that's where most people would ask for their taxes to go.

[@nijnij3988]

Amen!

[@DoRayMeFa]

As far as causation of this phenomenon goes, I think it was "Thinking Fast and Slow" the said that *gaining* something is not experienced as being as intensely "good/rewarding" as losing something is experienced as "bad/painful," with the pain being more intense than the reward. Maybe this observation has implications for the "rich meany" phenomenon.

[@yvo84]

Excellent research

[@thecrippledances]

Probably the best talk about money in TED! Thank you!

[@stormsigma]

Interesting seeing the crowd get quiet and somewhat restless as Mr. Piff gets to his main points. Income inequality is definitely something that makes people feel awkward and unsettled.

[@GigaBoost]

It looks like the rich players suffer from Affluenza.

[@Swedishsugar]

I do think it is interesting how the "rigged" players seemed to forget their clear advantages they had when they talked about the reason to why they won later on, and only credited themselves and their own "efforts". That does mirror reality pretty well haha ;)

[@safiyyah113]

@donald trump 🙃

[@Debsterism]

This is the majority of upper class whites in the US. They dontbwantnpoor people tovevejsve food stamps or subsidized child fare so they faj work.

[@nunyabidnis3815]

This needs so many more views.

[@thewallstreetjournal5675]

I'm an evil person when I play monopoly, even with the same rules.

[@thepimz1233]

Absolutely - I know that when I'm playing a game, and understand that the game has nothing to do with my actual social/wealth status, I'm a lot more likely to joke around with how wealthy I am because it's not real and a game. If I were to do the same in real life, I would consider myself to be an absolute douche haha

[@Jarlzdotorg]

I’ll guess You’re either translating personal wealth status to game status ; and/or it would still be worse if you has the advantage in the game!

[@elm6090]

I just buy all the railroads all 4 sides of the board and community chest. I also take one of my 100s every time I pass go and stash it under my leg as a savings account that way when people bank on me not having enough money to do something I have like 2,000 hidden.

[@LaundryFaerie]

You can see an example of this in the development of new apps. Most of them are designed to serve exactly the same demographic as the people who are developing them (single, male, online twentysomethings with plenty of disposable income). There are very few apps designed to assist homeless people, even though nearly half of all homeless people have cell phones.

[@springrollwang4441]

This video deserves more views, Not only poor is slave of money, even the rich, incredible.

[@gwirgalon]

O damn! Still my first thought is that their behaviour is culture and education conditioned, not intrinsic.And that is vitally important.

[@RPGabe]

The findings make total sense. As someone who wants to see massive social change in regards to wealth disparity, these kinds of studies are informative and great. However, I do hope more rigorous scientific methods can be used in the future for these studies and others like them. I see some big holes in his examples that leave them open to debate... just so many uncontrolled factors.

[@unclescam3783]

ummmm just look at the real world. scientific? you mean like a recreation of what already exists?

[@RPGabe]

haden uff what I mean is that their methods look to be pretty rudimentary. their subjects for the monopoly study appear to be all in the same age category. they just tested drivers at one intersection, etc. it's a good start and I hope they get more funding to build on what they've done so far

[@unclescam3783]

RPGabe fair enough, i would like to point out in my experience, super rich, advantaged assholes trancend age, gender and race. i am more concerned in the practicality of a study than the academics of it. after all an obvious problem should be solved not argued about.

[@StephanG007]

I think something that wasn't really discussed, was the fact that the 'poor' player, didn't eat the bagels... You have someone that is performing poorly in one area, and that causes them to deny themselves a legitimate resource that they have every right to enjoy, making the overall experience even worse for themselves.

[@carolegyptienne]

Great talk and I love it's not patronizing and doesn't use any emotional blackmailing. It's very factual and straight forward.

[@IseeRightThrough2you]

One of the best TED talks ever! Everyone should watch this.

[@KatrinaAune]

I actually found this video coming back from a homeless friend’s funeral because a shelter wouldn’t let the homeless park in a parking lot of the shelter they made them park out on a dangerous busy road and my friend got hit by a fucking car and I never thought I would have to watch anybody die. I watched my friend die because of greed.

[@elm6090]

That's heavy

[@splashbeats_]

i love ted. watching it, i learn so much, such as etiquette--such as professional presentation, knowledge and self awareness... you get to learn so much just by sitting there

[@cassandrayonder7260]

best ted talk EVER

[@jonassamuel4376]

Okay, lets break this down: 1.Money makes mean... somehow! (or maybe: Power corrupts. ) 2.Priming still works Stil a great thought inspiring video!

[@Alex-cw3rz]

1. It's not somehow, it's pretty obvious I'm sure in 8 years you'll have realised that Also how is this video Inspiring?

[@fivebigideas9553]

WOW, this was an insightful video, and it did a great job in convincing me that money isn't a great aim in itself. With science from Sonja Lyubomirsky in "The Myths of Happiness" also backing up the claim that shooting for money without having a worthy cause won't make you happy, some higher means are starting to emerge within my own life! Thank you for sharing this video. :)

[@cammack07]

Money in and of itself does nothing for your happiness. I feel like this is obvious.

[@caffeineandphilosophy]

There's a kind of obvious correlation v. causation issue that he doesn't adequately address (i.e., do people who are mean and greedy earn more money, or does earning more money make you mean and greedy?), which is ironic because he never actually answers the rhetorical question in the title. This sounds, from his choice of language and lack of controlling variables in his methodology, far more like an ideologically driven attempt at vindication, where the evidence follows the presumed conclusion, rather than the conclusion following from the evidence.

[@syth406]

Christopher Robertson I don't know if you missed the Monopoly segment? The advantaged players were chosen at random.

[@jin93kyu]

Great video; I see a lot of interesting ideas. But I think there is a big loophole in the experiment using monopoly to simulate the world. When you are playing monopoly, your goal is to make other people bankrupt irrelevant to the success of your own. However, in the real life, your goal is to make your own life successful not ruining others. So my argument is that when you're playing a board game where your goal is to make other people fail, it is more likely that the winning players become insolent, which is not an ideal way to simulate the real world. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the video and agree on many ideas he elaborated. Thank you for uploading

[@LEEWONEEL]

I agree with you, good point

[@mentalsheep85]

Good point however what is still striking is how they seemed to forget why they won - focusing on the 'moves' they made rather than realising it was simply down to a coin toss at the start which gave them a massive advantage to begin with. This is relevant no matter the goal of the game, granted they were supposed to bankrupt their opposition but just as in the real world people who are succesful seem to ignore the multiple factors that contribute to that success and harshly judge others who usually did not have the same advantage. I feel this was the most telling part of the experiment.

[@Saotaurus]

The goal of every business is to outdo its competitors, ideally putting them out of business, thereby maximizing market share. Such a system is incompatible with what you suggest, and I agree, is a decent life goal.

[@jin93kyu]

mentalsheep85 I agree with you. But I just feel that such phenomena are partially attributed to the very nature of the game that you have to press other people down to "win" the game (which indicates that it does not mirror the reality "perfectly"). Maybe I shouldn't have said there is a "big" loophole, all I wanted to do was stating the limitation of the experiment that he conducted in order to support his idea. I too agree with Paul Piff and his experiment was good with its own limitations (like any other social science experiments). But I guess my bad choice of vocabulary might have made people to think I'm belittling his work, which is not true. Sorry if I have confused you, and thank you for enlightening me.

[@jin93kyu]

John Smith Well ,it might be true for the organizational behavior (like business you mentioned). But we are talking about the behavior of individuals. I think those two behaviors are very different. For example, you would fight for your country in the war and kill people without feeling much guilt (at least not as much as you would when this was done personally). But I too agree that the urge to press other people down for one's success exists at the individual level whenever there is a competition (like gpa or company promotion). But we are not always under such circumstances while when you're playing monopoly, your goal is to make other people go bankrupt from the beginning to the end. Also, the explicit goal of the monopoly is the failure of others while the behavior you mentioned is the by-product of one's effort to succeed (so in terms of degree too there is a difference). Now, don't get me wrong I'm not belittling Paul Piff's findings. I want to clarify the limitation of the experiment which is not mentioned in the video.

[@1000OtherFoxes]

Some people are more eager to take risks in their life, seeking challenges, pursuing their visions and goals... So i can understand something like "i've started from nothing and i worked really hard putting a lot of stuff in jeopardy when people chose an easier way of life, i'm so proud of myself"

[@1000OtherFoxes]

SuperBigdude77 I totally agree with you, by the way i'm not rich i said i was understanding this kind of statement only from the people who has worked for what they got and I'll always have a lot of respect for the person who worked hard than the one who was just born with money. I'm working hard and i took risk will see where it goes ;)

[@chrisrice2791]

and what do those people think of losers

[@JewelChick01]

The thing is, I don't believe most people who claim to have done the hard work. (I'd like this guy to do a study correlating increased wealth with an increased propensity to lie.)

[@zaynabshaik5340]

I've recently come into a bit of money and have felt myself changing in my behaviour toward others...

[@BAIGAMING]

The car example extends even further, other car owners will bully you if you have a poor car. I had a '99 Civic until 2016, and other car owners, buses, etc would bully you around, tailgate, not give a pass even if there's contstruction, etc, but treat rich cars nicely. Even police are more often to pull you over if you have a poor car. Fast food workers also laugh at you too for having an old car, my '99 Civic had manual wind-down windows and I'd often get nasty looks and laughs. And this is in Canada, a country that is stereotyped by everyone to be the nicest.

[@JewelChick01]

Geez! They even do that in Canada?!? I thought the US had the market cornered on a-holery.

[@lemonemmi]

Ok you lost me in the end. There is no altruistic 1%. Tax the billionaires into oblivion, it's the only way they can pay back a fraction of exploitation they've done.

[@mpompeia]

A great part of the rationale behind the world we currently live in is touched here

[@IWashMyOwnBrain]

Great I wish everyone could see this.

[@1smmrbrze]

Me too. I shared it

[@lwarrell31]

Lesson is.. Stay Humble

[@ellakay6530]

There needs to be a differentiation between those born into wealth ie. monarchy, those who randomly acquired wealth through things like the lottery or those who made their own through the blood sweat and tears theory. Surely that would impact behaviour.

[@edenhaddick558]

That's just regular Monopoly my dude

[@cockeyedoptimista]

Sometimes those who worked hard are less socialistic because they resent seeing people handed for free what they worked so hard for, nor get taxed to support same. But I've often seen people who have less be more generous: I think because they know how it is - or maybe they have less bc they give more! But usually it's becauss they've struggled too.

[@Jarlzdotorg]

There is; this is why some new rich choose for their inheritance to Skip a generation or two!

[@popoff7808]

No it does not. The bootstrap people are just as greedy and uncaring as the rest at the end of the day. Look at Jeff Bezos the epitome of self -made and a trillionaire.

[@elm6090]

@@popoff7808 If your parents paid any kind of tuition for your schooling you aren't self-made, period. You are rich parents-made.

[@aaronbell5994]

When I'm wealthy, I'm going to literally look and see and experience the pains of other people instead of pushing it out of sight... This will inspire me to actually do something about these challenges and misfortunes. When I'm wealthy, I'm going to be a wealthy benefactor to society--who systematically offers people the same tools and equipment necessary for them to succeed as I or Bill Gates has (esp. the mental and emotional "tools" such as financial intelligence and emotional intelligence) I'm going to visualize myself changing myself as a wealthy benefactor to society once a day, three minutes a day, for the next 30 days.

[@PeteS_1994]

I'm not rich, but the guy says that richer people are more likely to be less empathetic, moralise greed etc. Well society is also likely to be less empathetic towards a rich person imo, I see people act as if the rich have no problems when as humans we all have mental problems and a wide spectrum of feelings due to a complex brain.

[@andrewviceroy5976]

Yeah, and schadenfreude (a feeling of enjoyment that comes from seeing or hearing about the troubles of other people) has been especially evidenced against the wealthy when they suffer. We are also biased to see beautiful people as having better inner qualities and implicitly discriminate against less attractive people in just about every way as well. These are good tendencies to be mindful of in order to try to counteract them.

[@daylite34]

Pete S. Okay, poor people might often sneer and scoff at rich people, but rich people are willing to literally put lives at risk and have people killed. Obviously everyone has mental problems, but we shouldn't value someone's feelings over someone's LIFE.

[@MrCarpelan]

Stop being a bootlicker.

[@bhbvh4904]

Thanks to Acolytes of Horror for introducing me to this interesting Ted Talk

[@charronfamilyconnect]

Interesting study on the affects of money and power. I would say there is alot of truth to the theories presented here with the small scale clinical trials run here. Ever notice when you play Monopoly how mean you can become when you are about to bankrupt your last opponents? This must be the same feeling a banker gets when his bank is about to throw out a mortgagee who despite, paying often twice the principal on the property, is salivating for the opportunity to toss them out to the curve and take over their property through foreclosure. Heck, these days there isn't much risk for a bank when they can easily get bailed out from the taxpayers if things go wrong. Must be nice to have the power to print money out of thin air like a chartered bank while the average person has to slave away with real sweat, blood, and tears just to pay the original loan plus interest. I have no problems with loans and interest. I only have a problem when the loan was generated from a fiction, and not from real savings that someone worked hard to accumulate.

[@rezamahan7109]

Very high quality speech! Thank you

[@aaronk9740]

I don't know many rich people, but I know many poor. For sure lack of money can make you mean.

[@ronj07]

It would be fascinating to have done the study in the 1950's and repeat it now. IMHO there is a generational change in attitudes here.

[@michaelsprawson3704]

Money doesn't MAKE one mean, or generous, it simply EXPOSES what is already in the heart.

[@popoff7808]

It exposes the human nature in all of us and our survival skill.

[@michaeldavies9446]

@@popoff7808 Those with less rely on our socialisation (cooperation and community) skills to survive, but naturally, we're not so pro-social.

[@derrickscott9469]

If these wealth based attitudes against the poor are consistent but also malleable by seeing recent examples of generosity and empathy, it seems like evermore inequality need not be our societal destiny. We can educate and legislate ourselves out of this problem. But in order to do that, we'd need a profound shift in how we think about ourselves and the social order. We'd need to drop our beliefs in free will and a just world. We'd need to accept a more deterministic worldview in which no one is more deserving of a better starting point in life or exempt from causation. We'd need equality of opportunity, or at least earnest work towards it, to be an actual thing instead of just propaganda, which it is now. And maybe humanity will get there eventually, but not in current form or in the foreseeable future.

[@Zepherian]

I believe almost all of this talk, except the bit in the end where he says top tier rich people are becoming more generous. Yeah right. Wealth is an expression of power and here is the real root of the problem. At the top are families and individuals who crave not wealth but power. Wealth is a means to consolidate power. And power is as unempathic as it gets, as at its root it's a sadistic desire to control or end the lives of others, much the same way a spoilt child throws away the toys so others can't play with them. Maybe some of those people could have their hearts open to love and become empathic, but its a generations old accumulation of selfishness at the top, and it won't end with psychoanalysis. It will end when society chokes on its own inequity and people stop feeding the monsters. Until then it's another run around mediocrity stadium. Move those slave legs people!

[@havenbastion]

Everyone believes they deserve nice things. When they get nice things, whether or not they're deserved, they believe they earned them. When they're successful, for whatever reason, that leads them to believe that people doing things their way are doing the right things. Availability bias shows them that society works. Because society rewards their behavior, they believe their behavior is inherently good and anyone less like them is less good. Because they're more privileged than others, the rules naturally bend to reflect their world-view.

[@Carols989]

they stopped laughing real fast when he pointed out how brutally that happens in real life

[@napathchatrungrangsi976]

a superb combination of a compelling idea and a good speaker

[@HogeyeBill]

How do you know that these behaviors and attitudes weren't due to WINNING rather than privilege? One needs to design an experiment in which the underprivileged somehow wins. Rigged dice or something. I predict most of the behaviors/attitudes are more closely related to winning, not privilege.

[@BETAmosquito]

I teared up in spite of myself. Wonderfully hopeful talk

[@Allen-eq5uf]

Wealth doesn't make you happy,but at least you can be miserable in comfort.

[@vice2versa]

+Allen Ruschman wealth does make you happy, it provides you the necessities and luxuries everyone wants in life. it does nothing if you have some kind of mental disorder that disables your ability to feel anything but grief but then you have the money to pay for treatment for such disorder. our quality of life is highly determined by our individual access to resources and opportunities. money is one of the most dominant necessities in our lives.

[@PeteS_1994]

+vice2vursa It only makes most people happier to a certain point. We also have a mental side in which we want to feel like we can relate to others and share problems. Genuine friends. For some people, having some amount of privacy. Being rich doesn't guarantee these things, in fact I would say sometimes it makes these things harder to find.

[@rainman3004]

It all depends on what definitions you attribute to weath and abundance. Being able to give more & have flexibility with time is important. Scarcity breeds contempt.

[@andy4an]

Incredible. Great experiment, and fascinating results. This kinda hurts personally, for predictable reasons.

[@andy4an]

***** Interestingly, I'm below the average household income for my state, but I'm also a bachelor, and my expenses are much lower than most peoples. I guess I'm rich relative to many of my friends? Either way, I recognize some of the examples of entitlement in my own life.

[@JugglingSEXMonkey]

weesh ful Me too.. This talk hurts a bit. Good thing we're more aware of it after the talk. I agree with what someone else said here: We should not blaim the rich as most will behave this way in their situation, rather we should politically aim to reduce inequity. Many countries (in Northern Europe) have reduced inequity drastically through politics. Too bad Americans often don't look outside the US for political answers - they should!

[@JugglingSEXMonkey]

weesh ful Especially increasing the tax and the progressiveness of the tax, and making higher education free are some things that we know work

[@LeonidasGGG]

You did not need a study to prove this. We see it everyday. Still, I don't believe money makes you mean. I believe mean people get more money. You get to #1, not by being better than, but by reducing, inferiorize or destroying #2. Like a friend of mine once said: "Money doesn't change people, it reveals then".

[@IcyPinguin]

eli nope "The whole basis of social operation today is a profit system. As long as you have a profit system, all your universities are tuned to the monetary system. The universities are not tuned to human betterment. They are not tuned to the well being of society. The universities are supported by the food industry, by wealthy corporations, and if you threaten them at the university level, that support will be withdrawn. You will not be permitted to talk against the mass productive systems of the present day economy. If you speak against those systems at a university, they would lose their support." - Jacque Fresco

[@DK0526]

IcyPinguin Perhaps all of biology is based on profit. Most organisms do what is best for them selves and the species. This is why capitalism is the only serious system of monetary advancement which will create greater technology and thus end most poverty. Socialism is only a nasty speed bump that forces people to die while waiting for the real answers of capitalism and technology.

[@DK0526]

eli nope The poorest nations seem to have socialist systems. This is true. I do not believe this is because socialism is better adepted to serve nations with less resources...rather they are poor specifically because of the socialist systems in the first place. Places like Japan have very few resources. Almost all of what Japan manufactures comes from imported resources. Most of Africa is swimming in natural resources yet it is poor compared to capitalist Japan. The one thing almost every poor nation in the entire world shares is a higher degree of socialism. Look at N and S Korea. The North actually has more natural resources. Almost identical cultures but one is capitalist and one is communist. The results speak for themselves. Even large cities in the US like Detroit have been run into the ground by socialism even after many years of prosperity through capitalism. The examples are to many to count...Even mathematically capitalism must prevail...see non zero sum game theory.

[@IcyPinguin]

Ice Nothing works in a monetary system. Anyone can be bought and paid to remove a problem in any way possible.

[@DK0526]

IcyPinguin Nothing works perfectly..there is no utopias...but Capitalism simply works the best and always will.

[@Menonsreegiri]

Apart from this two factors of "Haves" and Have nots" how much the Individuals were spiritually elevated should also be considered. The more u r close to realize the power of divinity(not religious) the more u will be compassionate, empathetic and co operative.

[@justintaylor3866]

Money doesn’t make you meaner, it just reveals who you really are

[@janeanrodkey4097]

The behaviors and graphs follow all the hallmarks of addiction. And as with an addiction, the strategies they use to overcome it is just like a 12-step program.

[@JimBCameron]

It's interesting that some comments belittling many of the random factors that influence success appear to serve to reinforce the experimenters' conclusions. :)

[@LifeAsANoun]

Revisiting this in 2020... he was right.

[@byBC]

This was in the documentary Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream. If you liked this video, you'll like the documentary

[@RedundanttGames]

No one is safe. Its everyone's fault. It's the fact that the top are getting richer while the bottom remain the same. Its also the abuse of welfare and social services which causes the lower to not have motivation to try because why bother. Its also the middle class for being the one of the largest groups in society and yet not speaking up for themselves to invoke change. Its also politicians that can be bought for a couple million to support large business while they say they are "for the people". Until everyone realizes everyone plays a part in Social and economic inequality, nothing will change. Life is not meant to be fair. Yes some are privileged, and some are not, and some are inbetween. Regardless, you will show where you are. Its insane to think that the top would act the same as the bottom. For those trying to argue that money does not change a person, then tell me how celebrities get caught with insane amounts of drugs and get off (Lindsey Lohan, Charlie Sheen, etc.) while our prison systems are full of inmates serving for minor non violent drug charges. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing. I thought he had good points and some I did not agree. These are just the facts that are occurring everyday. It will take everyone or nothing will change.

[@Dakkadot01]

RedundanttGames Awesome insight man, very true...sad but true

[@snois2]

I think it's interesting that people laugh at this. It's probably the rich folks lol

[@stefannikola]

This video is a perfect description of #25 on my list.

[@TheFireflyGrave]

Mo money, mo problems (for other people.)

[@Kentavious444]

I think this was an excellent presentation but although he demonstrated the "effects" of wealth and the correlating greed, he never mentioned the key component of the equation, ego. Ego is the source of all of society's problems worldwide. From petty arguments to world wars, when you break it down it's always ego at the source. But most people don't understand exactly what the ego is and thus are helpless to control it. Most people in the western world think of ego almost exclusively in the context of narcissism, which is one aspect of ego but only a vague hint at it's affect. Ego is quite simply "who you believe you are", and who you believe you are is based on your perceptions of all your thoughts and experiences since birth, but many of those perceptions are likely false or derived from fear. But being unaware of this we continue to believe these false perceptions and create our identity from them which in turn is measured against the rest of society and ultimately creates the perception of separateness. "I am this and you are that."

[@RGVZGM]

While the research does reveal that a flawed economic game does breed corruption, delusion, destruction and callousness, the academic world in our sick culture with distorted values, always seems to uphold the foundational systemic flaws in order to please the ones in power, and does not seem to question the system that produces these results. Not surprising but still saddening. Please investigate a resource based economy.

[@claschxtreme]

Exactly, they are aware of the problems but lack the incentive to work against it, because it would be like biting the hand that feeds them.

[@BIONICLECLAYPOKEMON]

Given the current conservative model of deeming the academic field as """Marxist""" institutions, I am under the impression that this sentiment is simply shifting the blame of not acting onto those biting the hardest.

[@FlexdeFunk1]

BEST TED TALK EVER!!!!! THANK GOD FOR SMART PEOPLE!!

[@puupipo]

The most important takeaway here is not that rich people are mean but that every single one of us is likely to behave in a "mean" way, given the right circumstances. In other words, we should not blame the wealthy people for being mean, instead we should blame the system that allowed them to become so wealthy.

[@kathykelly5930]

Well, a lot of ppl got wealthy from gov't connections, but some ppl got legitimately wealthy by creating products that improve ppl's lives. Should we be mad at the former or the latter?

[@puupipo]

kathy kelly Neither, in my opinion.

[@kathykelly5930]

Joonas Puuppo We shouldn't be mad at the gov't/crony system?

[@puupipo]

kathy kelly The system? Yes, absolutely. The individual people? I don't think so. People are naturally greedy, and we should build systems that restrict that, not completely but enough to reduce inequity.

[@kathykelly5930]

Joonas Puuppo Well if you mean using a gov't to do that, then the gov't would have to be placed above others and therefore be inequal, and the ppl in gov't themselves are greedy, so there certainly can't be any solutions to this in the gov't.

[@hashvid]

This is way below Ted Talks standard imo.

[@justgivemethetruth954]

The message is clearly that if wealthy and powerful people behave like jerks, then if you behave like a jerk you will give off the outward appearance of being among that class, so therefore you get lots of people motivated to act crappy to other people, and the whole social structure falls apart. We created a system that was easily undermined and contained the seeds of its own doom inside it.

[@unclescam3783]

i retract my reply to your last coment

[@primalvegan3072]

I can't help but wonder how likely it is that the people who are innately more self-interested are the ones who _become_ wealthier, rather than the wealth creating the self-interest.

[@kaseybrown7147]

I don't think that's true at all. People who are poor do not lack incentive to work and stop being poor. They lack the opportunity of being born into a rich home and sent to all the best schools and given jobs from all of mom and dad's friends.

[@primalvegan3072]

Kasey Brown Strawman. I made no argument about _incentive_. My point is that it seems just as likely that a selfish, self-interested, ambitious person would gain wealth faster than one who is caring and generous. I doubt it's as straightforward as "wealth makes you cold and selfish"... I think that being cold and selfish may help certain individuals become wealthy.

[@DK0526]

Kasey Brown Actually I have helped the poor. I still do. I am responsible for saving more poor people then I can count.....Having said that most poor are taught to expect a handout. They have been robbed by socialist ideas. Their incentive has been destroyed over time and it is generational. The main reason is Socialism, Drugs, Alcohol and Mental Illness. Most mental illness being caused by drug addled socialists having children in the ghetto. The result is genetically impaired people having more babies.

[@MrDomination92]

Primal Vegan Perhaps it contributes, but the monopoly video showed that even unearned wealth can generate an elevated sense of entitlement and an increased sense of self-importance.

[@primalvegan3072]

MrDomination92 Without a doubt, but that's specifically unearned wealth... and in general, it was people having prosperity (of a sort) dumped into their laps having not known it before. The presentation was fascinating, but I think the conclusions drawn don't really cover the topic well and can't fully suss out the chicken from the egg. And after all, it is just a TED talk, but a discussion is meant for these types of things, right?

[@calmman32]

Very interesting. Thank you

[@MedEighty]

I like talks that highlight the problem but also give hope by identifying solutions that currently exist. It makes it more difficult for ignoramuses to have stupid arguments in the comments section. More importantly though, I am grateful for this talk for making me understand why UK BMW and Audi drivers are such pieces of shit. :D

[@saleemisgod]

Don't forget those range Rover drivers.

[@MedEighty]

Al Sunshine Oh yeah. Them too.

[@writerconsidered]

the car business was funny. I actually go out of my way to piss off certain cars. I'm nicer to poor cars then rich cars.. On the road we are all equal, and my piece of shit old truck would have no problem accidentally or not so accidentally driving a BMW or Benz right off the road. And they know it

[@aimezmoi13]

This study is really interested, yay shout out to my school!

[@joannemillion2624]

One of the most accurate representations of systemic racism

[@andreaslind6338]

And class conflict.

[@johnarizona3820]

Brilliant! Well done Mr. piff!