High-status individuals are held to higher ethical standards
Although there is evidence for the generosity of high-status individuals, there seems to be a strong perception that the elites are selfish and contribute little to others’ welfare, and even less so than poorer people. We argue that this perception may derive from a gap between normative and empiric...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
13 September 2023
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| In: |
Scientific reports
Year: 2023, Volume: 13, Pages: 1-12 |
| ISSN: | 2045-2322 |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41598-023-42204-z |
| Online Access: | Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-42204-z Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-42204-z 
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| Author Notes: | Stefan T. Trautmann, Xianghong Wang, Yijie Wang & Yilong Xu |
| Summary: | Although there is evidence for the generosity of high-status individuals, there seems to be a strong perception that the elites are selfish and contribute little to others’ welfare, and even less so than poorer people. We argue that this perception may derive from a gap between normative and empirical expectations regarding the behavior of the elites. Using large-scale survey experiments, we show that high-status individuals are held to higher ethical standards in both the US and China, and that there is a strong income gradient in normatively expected generosity. We also present evidence for a gap between people’s normative expectations of how the rich should behave, and their empirical expectations of how they actually do: empirical expectations are generally lower than both normative expectations and actual giving. |
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| Item Description: | Gesehen am 20.09.2023 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 2045-2322 |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41598-023-42204-z |