Discover: Why Emotional Intelligence Takes a Dive Among the Affluent

[DBoon]

For years, social psychologists knew those with high socioeconomic status read the emotions of others poorly. But a June 2021 study in Social Psychological and Personality Science found when people experience economic inequality, they develop a more competitive mindset and, as a result, their emotional intelligence decreases.

“There’s more to gain and more to lose when there’s more inequality; people become more self-focused,” says study co-author Steven Heine, a social psychologist at the University of British Columbia. Generally, nobody wants to be at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder, he says. When resources for those at the lower end shrink, competition increases and, in lock step, so does a more selfish outlook. “What we find is when people see more economic inequality, that makes them behave more like wealthier people,” he says.

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Higher income people have a greater share of resources so they’re less dependent on others and less motivated to pay attention to others’ emotions, according to a 2016 study in Psychological Science. Affluent people can afford to be more self-sufficient, which makes them more focused on themselves, says Pia Dietze, social psychologist at University of California, Irvine, co-author of the Psychological Science study. People growing up in lower-class settings have fewer material resources and are more dependent on other people to help them out, she says. Growing up in a culture of interdependency, she says, people learn to read facial expressions and take others’ perspectives into account.

More affluent people tend to be less engaged with others, pay less attention to nonverbal cues when judging others’ emotions and perceive others’ emotions poorly, according to Kraus’s research published in 2009 in Psychological Science and in 2010 in Psychological Science. “There are incentives when you are powerful to not pay attention to people’s emotional states,” Kraus says. “Put simply, other people’s feelings have less influence on your outcomes, which are more under your own control. So, this can lead to either an intentional ignorance of others’ mental states or, over time, a lack of practice with them.

https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/why-emotional-intelligence-takes-a-dive-among-the-affluent

[Faux pas]

1. Not

surprised at all. The hump has taught us all.

[Maeve]

2. Rich people are more self-centered. Shocking

[Sherman A1]

3. Interesting

Not at all surprising. Thanks for posting.

[BlackSkimmer]

4. Lol, my parents were both dirt poor in their childhood.

Grew up, moved to the US, and both died quite wealthy.

I grew up privileged, thanks to their hard work.

Quite sure my parents stayed very aware of others. Their list of charities was overwhelming. Not to mention how they lived their everyday life…always looking out for others, always putting out a hand. They taught their children the same.