Rich people actually do have trouble understanding what it's like to be poor

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2021-05-22 11:30:04

"Let me tell you about the very rich," F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote. "They are different from you and me." The famous author goes on to write that "they think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are."

Fitzgerald was a keen observer of human nature and social relationships, not a scientist. But a recent study in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science shows he might have been on to something. The study identifies one area in which those with power, such as the wealthy, are different — they're more likely to employ a "choice mindset," which causes them to be equally critical of decisions made by those with fewer resources and choices.

The term "choice mindset," refers to whether an individual is inclined to perceive their own actions and those of others as the result of deliberate decisions. When someone views life with a choice mindset, it means they are more likely to see victims as at least partially to blame for their misfortunes and to be less troubled by reports of inequality.