Rich people are KINDER than the poor, study of 2.3 million people concludes

From Bob Cratchit to Charlie Bucket and the Weasley family in the Harry Potter films, poor people are often portrayed as the kindest. 

This classic depiction has been a popular troupe in fiction ever since the poverty-stricken days of Charles Dickens. 

Meanwhile, the meanest characters from the big screen, such as Scrooge and Mr Burns from The Simpsons, tend to be more prosperous. 

But a new study suggests there’s not much truth in these stereotypes. 

On balance, it’s actually the rich who are kinder than the poor – albeit marginally, according to scientists. 

The researchers analysed data from more than 2.3 million people around the world spanning five decades. 

Overall, poorer people show less generous and kind behaviour towards others – because they cannot afford to do so, the experts found. 

‘Scarce resources make it more costly for lower class individuals to behave prosocially toward others,’ they say. 

In Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971) based on Roald Dahl’s children’s book, the Bucket family are kind and generous but live in terrible poverty

The classic depiction of poorer people being kinder has been a troupe in fiction ever since the days of Charles Dickens. Pictured, the Muppets in their classic 1992 interpretation of Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ 

There’s been a belief in psychology that lower income people are kinder and more generous towards others in order to strengthen social bonds, which can help when times get particularly tough. 

The opposing belief is than richer people are kinder and more generous simply because they can afford to be. 

Different conclusions about each theory can be drawn across different ‘sociocultural contexts’ around the world, the scientists say, 

To find out more, the experts from the Netherlands, China and Germany analyzed the findings of 471 independent studies going back to 1968. 

These studies investigated social class (income and education) and ‘prosocial’ behaviours – those intended to help other people or society as a whole. 

Prosocial behaviors include helping, sharing, donating, co-operating, volunteering, comforting someone else and showing care for animals. 

In all, the data represented more than 2.3 million people – children, adolescents, and adults – from 60 societies, including China, the US, Germany, Spain, Italy, Canada, Sweden and Australia. 

According to the findings, generally the higher the social class, the higher the levels of prosociality – supporting the latter theory. 

In the Harry Potter novels and films, the Weasley family are known in the wizarding world for being of lower economic status

In the 1946 adaptation of Dickens’ ‘Great Expectations’, kindly Joe Gargery (Bernard Miles) nurses Pip (John Mills)

What is prosociality?

Prosociality is an important social behaviour for human development from infanthood.  

‘Prosocial’ behaviours are those intended to help other people or society as a whole. 

Prosocial behaviors include helping, sharing, donating, co-operating, volunteering, comforting someone else and showing care for animals. 

According to lead study author Professor Paul van Lange, psychologist at Vrije University in Amsterdam, the difference was small but statistically significant. 

The link between higher social class and higher prosociality holds true across different age groups, societies, continents and cultural zones. 

‘Irrespective of how we measured social class, we found a small-size positive association between higher social class and more prosociality,’ he told the Times. 

Interestingly, the link between class and prosociality among the rich was stronger in circumstances where others could see them being charitable. 

This suggests people of higher class like to be seen to be generous, likely due to some desired social benefit. 

Also, the link was stronger for actual behaviour than for stated intention – suggesting that lower-income people do want to be generous but can’t.

Professor van Lange also said it’s possible that people from lower social classes are ‘more prosocial to those around them rather than to people in general’.  

Ebenezer Scrooge, portrayed here by Alastair Sim in the 1951 film ‘Scrooge’, harks back to an era where the poor were blighted by unacceptable poverty and dangerous working conditions

The new study, published in the journal Psychological Bulletin, can help address ‘structural barriers to prosociality among lower class individuals’. 

‘This research can inform policy makers and practitioners about potential interventions that can foster cooperation and prosocial behavior across diverse social classes,’ the authors say. 

According to a study last year, whether or not we display prosocial behaviour can depend on whether we’ve had a good night’s sleep. 

Meanwhile, prosocial behaviour in the form of gift-giving can lower our blood pressure and our heart rate, another study found. 

People really DO want to be kind to each other even if it costs them something, study finds 

Not all is lost, as we really do want to be kind to each other, a 2020 study found. 

People overwhelmingly choose to be generous to others, even if it is at the cost of themselves and regardless of external motives, the study said. 

It asked participants to give money to other people, which the team assumed would lead to subjects anticipating something in return for their generosity.

However, the experiment revealed volunteers were largely willing to hand strangers cash without any motivation behind it – just the notion of helping the individual. 

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk