Does Your Bank Account Affect Your Compassion?

By Leslie Becker-Phelps, PhD

People who are financially poorer are more compassionate to others’ suffering. At least, that was the finding of an interesting series of experiments conducted at the University of California, Berkeley.

The researchers found that wealthier people are more likely to feel many positive emotions, such as joy, contentment, pride, love, amusement, and awe. However, while enjoying all of these good feelings, they are less able to recognize distress in others. When they did recognize it, they were less empathic (less able to put themselves in the other person’s shoes) and less compassionate (less compelled to help alleviate the other person’s pain).

This was demonstrated particularly well during one experiment, in which 64 subjects were shown an emotionally charged video about families facing the challenges of having a child with cancer. Although everyone felt sad, those who were in the socio-economically lower class had more empathy and compassion. In other words, they were really personally relating to the families in the video and feeling a desire to help.

The lead author of the study, Jennifer Stellar, explained that people in the lower socio-economic classes have had to cope with more problems and threats to their wellbeing. From these experiences, these people developed a more compassionate and cooperative culture. In comparison, the upper classes may be less able to recognize and really relate to signals of suffering because they haven’t had to face as many obstacles.

These results are interesting in that they are counter to the hostility and aggression that many people presume exists in poorer neighborhoods. They also challenge previous scientific studies that found financially poorer people to be more anxious and hostile when faced with hardships.

Perhaps both dynamics are happening simultaneously. As with so much else in life, it could be that the effects of someone’s socio-economic status might be more complicated than this study alone suggests. Also, the study was done with college students, which might affect the results.

Maybe those with significantly fewer financial resources are more stressed and anxious. With this strain, they are depleting their inner resources, making them often less able to manage their feelings effectively. However, by having these experiences, they are also – particularly when not feeling really depleted – more sensitive to recognizing and relating to struggles in others.

How does all of this relate to your experiences? And what are your thoughts about the idea that people who are poorer tend to be more compassionate? Share your thoughts in the comments below or join the discussion in our Relationships and Coping community.