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"A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds . . . that lower-class people are better at reading the emotions of others."
Upper-Class People Have Trouble Recognizing Other's Emotions
Seeded on Tue Nov 23, 2010 2:14 PM EST
Article Source: PsychologicalScience.org- Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.
- Public Discussion (10)
These results seem logical to me.
However, I think it is unfair to generalize. In some cases I think the reason people become wealthy or upper class is because of their ability to read the emotions of people and their willingness to help others. They find a need and meet it, thus helping both themselves and others.
If we humans develop better skills at recognizing the emotions and needs of others (and ourselves) and become better at meeting those unmet needs, we can live healthier, happier, and longer lives, in my opinion.
- 1 vote
#1 - Tue Nov 23, 2010 2:16 PM ESTTired_of_Extermists,
Regarding your comment #1.1 referring to my comment #1:
Many wealthy people become rich by selling things. Understanding the needs of people is a key to success in sales. You are correct about marketers sometimes manipulating "people's emotions." But sometimes this is constructive meeting of people's physical, mental, spiritual, and yes emotional needs -- at least that's my opinion.
I know some wealthy people who seem very good at "reading" people and some poor who are not so adept at it.
Perhaps the second generation wealthy who inherit their wealth rather than earning it are less emotionally sensitive than those who are self-made wealthy. That might be an interesting thing to study more. Do you agree?
- 2 votes
I have to agree. While there are perceptive and intelligent people of every class, the ability to manipulate other people's emotions is part of the sociopathic complex of behavior that is recognized in many top executives and wealthy people. What it points to is a lack of empathy and any real understanding of the people being manipulated. It is definitely an elitist attitude and shows no real understanding of other people since it is based solely on the accumulation of power and wealth for the manipulator.
- 3 votes
I thought this theory was interesting:
A final experiment found that, when people were made to feel that they were at a lower social class than they actually were, they got better at reading emotions. This shows that “it’s not something ingrained in the individual,” Kraus says. “It’s the cultural context leading to these differences.” He says this work helps show that stereotypes about the classes are wrong. “It’s not that a lower-class person, no matter what, is going to be less intelligent than an upper-class person. It’s all about the social context the person lives in, and the specific challenges the person faces. If you can shift the context even temporarily, social class differences in any number of behaviors can be eliminated.”
So the way an individual percieves themselves has to do with how sensitive they are to others, as well as how they behave and percieve different situations?
- 1 vote
#2 - Tue Nov 23, 2010 5:03 PM ESTI think it would be great if we could all somehow develop a well-balanced sensitivity to others, sunnybunny1269. The portion you quoted from the article may indicate this is easier than previously thought.
- 1 vote
That sounds like a good thing.We just have to make the effort then.
- 1 vote
It actually made me wonder about women. In conventional wisdom (i.e., "they say"), women are more attuned to emotions. Is this because women perceive themselves to be in a lower social class?
- 2 votes
Actually, what I got from the article is that membership in a perceived superior group - social class, political party or religious affiliation - desensitizes its members to the common humanity of those outside the group. This is a natural progression of the primitive Us or Them mentality that tends to demonize members of opposing groups and is certainly nothing new. In this context, women in patriarchal societies, Jews and Christians in Muslim societies, Jews and Muslims in Christian societies, etc., are automatically assigned a lesser status and are considered inscrutable or unknowable because they are Other. This, of course, is pure nonsense. There are men who understand women, Muslims, Christians and Jews who understand those of other religions, upper class people who understand those of lower class because they are perceptive and intelligent enough to recognize these social boundaries as artificial.
Good discussion, btw.
- 4 votes
These results suggest that people of upper-class status aren’t very good at recognizing the emotions other people are feeling.
I think it is largely due to the upper-class does not care what other people feel.
- 3 votes
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