“Good News, Bad News”
First, the good news. A study* by a group of academics from UC Berkeley and the University of Toronto supp0rts our long-held belief that most folks are by nature ethically inclined. They carried out a series of seven naturalistic and experimental studies. The first two –using the naturalistic method– in our opinion put their unwitting participants in the easiest atmosphere to ignore their ethical standards – they were encased in a large steel machine, driving their cars.
The academics had students work in teams during light traffic periods. In one test they had a student walk up to a crosswalk as a car approached and make eye contact with the driver. Sixty-five percent of the drivers stopped and allowed the student to cross. The other study had to do with stop sign courtesy. At a four-way intersection, observers watching from a distance noted when drivers cut in front of another car that had the right of way. About thirteen percent hit the gas pedal, but a wide majority, eighty-seven percent of those in this study waited their turn.
The other five experimental studies tested voluntary participants in a controlled laboratory environment. They went through a series of tests that showed-up those who cheat, lie, and seem to feel that they are entitled to more than their share. In these studies –just like the first two– a majority of the participants chose an ethical path.
Now the bad news. The academics were checking the relative ethical behavior of the rich vis-à-vis those further down the food chain. They found that some of the well-dressed luxury car drivers were more likely to blow through a pedestrian crossing or to cut in front of a car with the right of way at an intersection. In the other experiments more of the well-off took extra candy from a jar leaving less for the children, and they endorsed the over-worked Gordon Gekko line from the movie Wall Street, “Greed is Good, etc., etc., etc.
Keep in mind that disappointed as we might be that those blessed with wealth and its accoutrements do not deal with their fellows as ethically as those less endowed, the majority of the well-off “did” follow an ethical path. Even Gekko has changed his view and can now be seen in FBI sponsored television appeals to guard against insider trading.
Greed is not good. It’s a lousy way to live, even for those who succeed following this path. Those who choose an ethical business model, those who care for their customers, their employees, their suppliers, their community, the environment, those who put their fellows first, find that their bottom line takes care of itself. Studies show this path to be many times more profitable than that taken by the what-ever-it-takes, profit-comes-first believers. It’s all good news!
*Citation: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Vol. 109 No. 9, Feb. 28, 2012. “Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior.” By Paul K. Piff, Daniel M. Stancato, Stéphane Côté, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, and Dacher Keltner.
First, the good news. A study* by a group of academics from UC Berkeley and the University of Toronto supp0rts our long-held belief that most folks are by nature ethically inclined. They carried out a series of seven naturalistic and experimental studies. The first two –using the naturalistic method– in our opinion put their unwitting participants in the easiest atmosphere to ignore their ethical standards – they were encased in a large steel machine, driving their cars.
The academics had students work in teams during light traffic periods. In one test they had a student walk up to a crosswalk as a car approached and make eye contact with the driver. Sixty-five percent of the drivers stopped and allowed the student to cross. The other study had to do with stop sign courtesy. At a four-way intersection, observers watching from a distance noted when drivers cut in front of another car that had the right of way. About thirteen percent hit the gas pedal, but a wide majority, eighty-seven percent of those in this study waited their turn.
The other five experimental studies tested voluntary participants in a controlled laboratory environment. They went through a series of tests that showed-up those who cheat, lie, and seem to feel that they are entitled to more than their share. In these studies –just like the first two– a majority of the participants chose an ethical path.
Now the bad news. The academics were checking the relative ethical behavior of the rich vis-à-vis those further down the food chain. They found that some of the well-dressed luxury car drivers were more likely to blow through a pedestrian crossing or to cut in front of a car with the right of way at an intersection. In the other experiments more of the well-off took extra candy from a jar leaving less for the children, and they endorsed the over-worked Gordon Gekko line from the movie Wall Street, “Greed is Good, etc., etc., etc.
Keep in mind that disappointed as we might be that those blessed with wealth and its accoutrements do not deal with their fellows as ethically as those less endowed, the majority of the well-off “did” follow an ethical path. Even Gekko has changed his view and can now be seen in FBI sponsored television appeals to guard against insider trading.
Greed is not good. It’s a lousy way to live, even for those who succeed following this path. Those who choose an ethical business model, those who care for their customers, their employees, their suppliers, their community, the environment, those who put their fellows first, find that their bottom line takes care of itself. Studies show this path to be many times more profitable than that taken by the what-ever-it-takes, profit-comes-first believers. It’s all good news!
*Citation: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Vol. 109 No. 9, Feb. 28, 2012. “Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior.” By Paul K. Piff, Daniel M. Stancato, Stéphane Côté, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, and Dacher Keltner.
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