Why (You and I Think) Billionaires Suck

Hating billionaires has been a favourite pastime of us lowly mortals for a long time—and for good reason. “Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg agree to hold cage fight.”¹ There go the uber-wealthy doing ridiculous things once again. But where does this strong dislike come from? Are the one percenters truly different than the rest of us? Or is there something in the perception of the other 99% that fuels the dislike? It might be a bit of both.

Let’s first explore how wealth can change people for the worse. A study led by Kathleen D. Vohs looked at how simply thinking about having money can change the way people act. The researchers first asked study participants to read essays about wealth. One group read an essay that discussed growing up with significant financial means while the other group read about growing up struggling with finances. They then told participants to solve a puzzle that was impossible—a fact unbeknownst to them. To measure participants’ willingness to ask for help, they brought another person into the experiment room. Participants were told that this individual had previously completed the puzzle, though they were in on the experiment. The experimenter went on to say that the participant could ask for help from this person whenever they’d like. Those who had read about having wealth took significantly longer to ask for help.²