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High-status individuals are held to higher ethical standards.


ABSTRACT: 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.

SUBMITTER: Trautmann ST 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10499905 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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High-status individuals are held to higher ethical standards.

Trautmann Stefan T ST   Wang Xianghong X   Wang Yijie Y   Xu Yilong Y  

Scientific reports 20230913 1


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  ...[more]

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