Rich People Are Snobby for Scientific Reasons

A new psychological study suggests that wealthier people aren’t able to pick up on other people’s emotions like us poor folks can because they don’t depend on relationships as much. So maybe we need to cut snooty richfolk some slack.

Published in Psychological Science, the study indicates that because wealthier people have greater resources with which to spend their problems out of sight, they don’t have to count on anyone else’s help. They become so used to their independence, that they lose sight of the fact that other people don’t have the same freedoms and resources and, you know, maybe need some government services or a helping hand every now and then.

But all’s not hopeless for the rich! The study results indicate that rich people can also become feeling, in-touch human beings when they’re “made to feel that they were at a lower social class than they actually were.” Also, “they got better at reading emotions. This shows that ‘it’s not something ingrained in the individual.'” Now, if we could just convince the rich that taxes might be good for their spiritual and emotional well-being, all this science might actually prove useful.