{"id":146220,"date":"2019-10-28T12:00:43","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T12:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=146220"},"modified":"2019-10-26T10:44:44","modified_gmt":"2019-10-26T09:44:44","slug":"psychologys-dark-triad-and-the-billionaire-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/10\/psychologys-dark-triad-and-the-billionaire-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychology\u2019s \u201cDark Triad\u201d and the Billionaire Class"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThey smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u2014 F. Scott Fitzgerald\u2019s The Great Gatsby<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Outrage of Billionaires<\/strong><\/p>\n

25 Oct 2019 – <\/em>The data are stark and compelling. The richest 400 families<\/a> in the United States own financial assets that exceed<\/em> the wealth of the bottom 60% of all American households combined. U.S. billionaires pay taxes at a lower<\/em> effective rate than working class families. The CEOs of S&P 500 companies<\/a>, averaging over $14 million in annual compensation, make roughly as much in a single day<\/em> as their median employee earns in an entire year<\/em>. At the same time, research<\/a> shows that such extreme inequality between rich and poor is a driving force behind many of society\u2019s most profound and corrosive ills. These disparities are associated with diminished<\/em> levels of physical health, mental health, educational achievement, social mobility, trust, and community life. They\u2019re also linked to heightened<\/em> levels of infant mortality, obesity, drug abuse, crime, violence, and incarceration.<\/p>\n

In light of these realities, it\u2019s no surprise that some political leaders are calling for dramatic policy changes<\/a> designed to tamp down economic inequality. Equally unsurprising, some members of the so-called billionaire class in this country are outraged by these proposals. Responding to Senator Bernie Sanders\u2019s comment that he doesn\u2019t think billionaires should exist, Stephen Schwarzman \u2014 the billionaire CEO of the private equity firm Blackstone Group \u2014 told<\/a> a New York City audience, \u201cMaybe Bernie Sanders shouldn\u2019t exist.\u201d On the Fox Business Network, Ken Langone, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot, angrily called Sanders a \u201cblowhard\u201d and asked<\/a>, \u201cWhat the hell has he done for the little people?\u201d And CNBC host Jim Cramer reported<\/a> that Wall Street executives \u2014 privately discussing the aspirations of Senator Elizabeth Warren \u2014 had told him \u201cshe\u2019s got to be stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n

Complaints like these are nothing new from America\u2019s super-rich. Almost a decade ago, Schwarzman (noted above) compared<\/a> the possible elimination of a favorable hedge fund tax loophole to \u201cwhen Hitler invaded Poland.\u201d A few years later, in a letter to the Wall Street Journal<\/em>, now-deceased billionaire venture capitalist Tom Perkins wrote<\/a>, \u201cI would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its \u2018one-percent,\u2019 namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one-percent, namely the \u2018rich.\u2019\u201d And fellow billionaire Sam Zell told<\/a> Bloomberg News<\/em>, \u201cThis country should not talk about envy of the one-percent. It should talk about emulating the one-percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

But should we really be trying to emulate the one-percent? Perhaps not. Psychological research suggests that the super-rich, as a group, aren\u2019t necessarily the role models we collectively need if our goal is to advance the common good and build a more decent society. In particular, one reason to be skeptical involves a constellation of interlinked personality traits \u2014 Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism \u2014 that psychologists call the \u201cDark Triad.\u201d The originators of the term summarize<\/a> it this way: \u201cTo varying degrees, all three entail a socially malevolent character with behavior tendencies toward self-promotion, emotional coldness, duplicity, and aggressiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s now consider each of these three components separately, in regard to what they may tell us about the one-percent.<\/p>\n

Machiavellianism<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first trait of the Dark Triad \u2014 Machiavellianism \u2014 refers to one\u2019s willingness to deceitfully manipulate and exploit people and circumstances for personal gain. In an illuminating series of studies<\/a>, psychologists have found that this tendency is more<\/em> common among those with greater<\/em> wealth and status.<\/p>\n

These researchers compared the actions of participants categorized as either \u201cupper class\u201d or \u201clower class\u201d \u2014 based on measures of socioeconomic status \u2014 in a variety of different situations. For example, one study used the age, model, and appearance of cars as a proxy for the drivers\u2019 wealth. Those driving more expensive vehicles cut off pedestrians and other cars more often at a busy intersection. In a second study, higher social-class participants reported a greater likelihood of engaging in various unethical behaviors, such as keeping extra change that was mistakenly given to them by a cashier. In a third study, half of the participants first compared themselves to people at the top of the socioeconomic ladder, while the other half instead compared themselves to those at the bottom of the ladder. Afterward, those in the second group \u2014 now primed to see themselves as better off than others \u2014 took more candy from a jar they were told had treats intended for children in a lab nearby. In yet another study, participants were instructed to play the role of an employer involved a hypothetical salary negotiation with a prospective employee. They were told that this job hunter was specifically looking for a long-term position \u2014 and that this available opening would only last six-months. The researchers found that those higher in social class were more likely to deceptively withhold this important information from the applicant. A final study involved a game of chance using the computerized rolling of dice. Here too, the participants higher in social class cheated more often in order to receive a modest cash prize.<\/p>\n

With findings like these, is it surprising that many huge corporations \u2014 controlled by individuals with extraordinary personal wealth \u2014 have employed Machiavellian tactics that fail to honor the public trust? There\u2019s no shortage of high-profile examples. At Enron<\/a>, officials fraudulently propped up the company\u2019s stock price, leading thousands of unsuspecting employees to lose their retirement savings when the company collapsed shortly thereafter. General Motors<\/a> turned a blind eye to manufacturing defects and then, despite the heightened risk of driver injury and death, engaged in a years-long cover-up. R.J. Reynolds<\/a> and other tobacco companies spent decades withholding scientific evidence and misleading the public about the harmful effects of smoking. Large for-profit colleges<\/a> and training institutes have lured students into expensive programs with deceptive advertising, have offered them false assurances of future employment, and have saddled them with lifetimes of debt. During the financial collapse a decade ago, investment banking giant Goldman Sachs<\/a> recommended and sold to its clients billions of dollars of deceptively valued securities tied to risky home mortgages \u2014 in order to unload these toxic assets from its own accounts. And pharmaceutical giant Purdue Pharma<\/a> continued to aggressively market OxyContin for years after the company learned that the drug was highly addictive, contributing to tens of thousands of deaths from prescription opioid overdoses.<\/p>\n

Psychopathy<\/strong><\/p>\n

The second component of the Dark Triad \u2014 psychopathy \u2014 refers to a person\u2019s lack of empathy toward others and a tendency to behave in a callous and uncaring manner toward them. Here too, research by psychologists supports the view that, compared to their \u201clower-class\u201d counterparts, \u201cupper-class\u201d individuals act with less<\/em> compassion \u2014 and also fall short on certain basic skills necessary for building positive connections with other people.<\/p>\n

In one experiment<\/a>, for example, lower-income participants were substantially more willing to take on extra work to help out a distressed research partner than were the upper-income participants. In another study<\/a>, lower-class participants demonstrated a stronger compassion-related physiological response than did their upper-class counterparts after watching a video of children suffering from cancer. In a related study, the lower-class participants in a stressful interview process showed greater sensitivity and compassion toward their competitors than did the upper-class interviewees. And in an experiment<\/a> with four-year-old children, those from less wealthy homes behaved more altruistically than those from wealthier homes, donating more of their prize tokens to children they were told were hospitalized.<\/p>\n

In other studies<\/a>, individuals from a lower social class were significantly better than upper-class participants at judging the emotions being portrayed when they were presented with photos of human faces. The researchers concluded that this enhanced ability may reflect the reality that those who are less well-off must rely more on accurately reading their social environment, because they depend more on interpersonal relationships and collaborative efforts in their daily lives. On the other hand, individuals with extensive material resources like today\u2019s super-rich are more likely to find close relationships, especially with people of lesser means, quite unnecessary in their goal-oriented pursuits \u2014 and their perspective-taking abilities may suffer as a result.<\/p>\n

In the business world, a compassion deficit among members of the billionaire class isn\u2019t very hard to see. For example, rarely do we hear the CEOs of today\u2019s corporate behemoths acknowledge the critical role that they themselves play in blocking upward mobility and financial security for millions of working-class Americans. Most obviously, union-busting and related \u201cright-to-work\u201d<\/a> efforts suppress the wages and benefits that could dramatically improve the lives of working families. More broadly, despite substantial increases in worker productivity<\/a> over the past few decades, the super-rich have directed the rewards of economic growth into their own pockets rather than into their employees\u2019 paychecks. Likewise, international trade agreements, written in secret with strong corporate representation, have prioritized protecting profits for huge companies over safeguarding wages, human rights, and the environment. Perhaps this callousness is captured especially well by Amazon\u2019s billionaire CEO Jeff Bezos, who reportedly once described<\/a> his negotiating approach as similar to \u201cthe way a cheetah would pursue a sickly gazelle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Narcissism<\/strong><\/p>\n

The third trait of the Dark Triad \u2014 narcissism \u2014 refers to an individual\u2019s sense of superiority over other people and convictions about personal entitlement to special treatment. Once again, in a diverse set of psychological studies<\/a>, individuals of higher social class displayed greater<\/em> levels of narcissism and entitlement than did their less wealthy counterparts.<\/p>\n

In one study, for example, participants who rated themselves higher on a measure of socioeconomic status also scored higher on a scale designed to measure psychological entitlement; a sample item from that scale is \u201cI honestly feel I\u2019m just more deserving than others.\u201d Another study instead used a nonverbal measure of entitlement. Participants looked at sets of circles of varying sizes and were asked to identify which size circle best described how they saw themselves compared to others. Those of higher social status picked larger circles as their self-descriptors than did those of lower social status. In a third study that used a behavioral measure of narcissism, upper-class participants were more likely than their lower-class counterparts to make use of a wall mirror before having their photos taken. In a survey study<\/a>, researchers in Germany directly assessed a sample of very high net-worth individuals. They too found that this group scored higher on a measure of narcissism compared to a separate sample of people of lesser economic means.<\/p>\n

In the board room and beyond, the narcissistic super-rich are accustomed to being in charge and to having things their way \u2014 unlike those they sometimes refer to as \u201cthe little people.\u201d Of course, they don\u2019t necessarily feel fortunate in this regard because, by their own account, they fully deserve all the benefits and privileges bestowed upon them. The special favors they receive are particularly apparent when we consider the corrupting influence<\/a> of wealth on \u201cequal justice under law,\u201d the hallowed words engraved atop the Supreme Court Building in our nation\u2019s capital. Indeed, unequal treatment<\/a> runs the gamut from the likelihood of arrest and prosecution<\/a> to the leniency offered in sentencing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As one example of these unwritten norms, wealthy tax cheats have developed a broad repertoire of arguments \u2014 based on notions of personal superiority \u2014 for why they should receive a light sentence or no sentence at all after being caught, prosecuted, and found guilty (all rarities in their own right). Their farfetched justifications \u2014 which some judges nevertheless find persuasive \u2014 include<\/a> all of the following: they\u2019ve already suffered sufficient public humiliation for their misdeeds; although they cheated, they\u2019ve also been generous in their charitable donations; the fines they\u2019ve paid were sufficiently punitive; and their status as \u201cjob creators\u201d makes it unwise to remove them from the community and put them behind bars.<\/p>\n

The Bottom Line<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s now revisit the notion that the widespread misery and shattered dreams associated with today\u2019s extreme inequality can be overcome by following the lead of the one-percent. Clearly, the deeply-entrenched Dark Triad tendencies among the super-rich should caution us against taking this path. After all, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism aren\u2019t the qualities one looks for in a reliable and trustworthy guide.<\/p>\n

At the same time, it\u2019s important to recognize two countervailing considerations. First, not everyone<\/em> who\u2019s exceedingly wealthy displays this disturbing trio of psychological traits, or routinely engages in the antisocial behaviors associated with them. Second, there\u2019s obviously no requirement that you have to be rich in order to be an obnoxious narcissist who lacks compassion and exploits other people.<\/p>\n

But these caveats don\u2019t alter the fundamental reality: there are<\/em> members of the one-percent who do <\/em>act upon their Dark Triad inclinations and impulses. That\u2019s a serious problem because their extraordinary wealth gives them tremendous influence over our laws, our politics, and our public square \u2014 and they\u2019re eager and able to use their power and resources to pursue a self-serving agenda at the expense of the common good.<\/p>\n

Psychology matters in another way as well. As part of their efforts, these one-percenters use an assortment of psychological appeals<\/a> to mislead us about what\u2019s happening, what\u2019s right, and what\u2019s possible. These manipulative \u201cmind games\u201d include a wide range of deceptive claims: change is dangerous; concerns over inequality are overblown; hard times hit those who don\u2019t measure up; the wealthy are the ones being mistreated; critics of the super-rich are misguided and misinformed; the wealthy deserve the public\u2019s trust; one-percenters have earned their enormous wealth and power; critics of the billionaire class are un-American; change is impossible; and the one-percent aren\u2019t to blame for society\u2019s problems. Debunking these and similar appeals \u2014 and inoculating ourselves and others against them \u2014 is therefore a necessary step in successfully challenging a status quo that prioritizes the few over the many.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a popular account, perhaps fictitious, about an exchange between writers F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Fitzgerald purportedly wrote, \u201cThe rich are different from you and me\u201d <\/em>\u2014 and Hemingway replied, \u201cYes, they have more money.\u201d<\/em> Some members of the billionaire class would like us to believe it\u2019s really that simple. But it appears the truth may actually be much darker.<\/p>\n

_______________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Roy Eidelson is a member of the TRANSCEND Network<\/a> and was a member of the American Psychological Association for over 25 years, prior to his resignation. He is a clinical psychologist and the president of Eidelson Consulting<\/a>, where he studies, writes about, and consults on the role of psychological issues in political, organizational, and group conflict settings. He is a past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility<\/a>, associate director of the Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict at Bryn Mawr College, and a member of the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology<\/a>. Roy is the author of <\/em>Political Mind Games: How the 1% Manipulate Our Understanding of What\u2019s Happening, What\u2019s Right, and What\u2019s Possible<\/a> and can be reached at reidelson@eidelsonconsulting.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

25 Oct 2019 – The data are stark and compelling. The richest 400 families in the United States own financial assets that exceed the wealth of the bottom 60% of all American households combined. U.S. billionaires pay taxes at a lower effective rate than working class families. The CEOs of S&P 500 companies, averaging over $14 million in annual compensation, make roughly as much in a single day as their median employee earns in an entire year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":110813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[232,281,1033],"class_list":["post-146220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members","tag-capitalism","tag-psychology","tag-psychopathy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}