ITHACA, N.Y. – People are more likely to attribute vast wealth to systemic advantages that have contributed to decades of widening income inequality in the United States if they consider “the superwealthy,” “the 1%” or “the economic elite” rather than individuals, according to new research from Cornell University.
The findings, reported in new psychology research by collaborators at Cornell and the Ohio State University, suggests our tolerance for inequality – and support for redistributive policies intended to reduce it – may depend on who people are led to think about at the top of the economic ladder.
“When you think about ‘the wealthy’ or ‘the 1%,’ the mind goes to situational attributions much more readily,” said Thomas Gilovich, professor of psychology at Cornell. “You think about the system being rigged, the privileges they have, and therefore you’re much more willing to support, for example, an inheritance tax to deal with growing income inequality.”
Across eight studies involving a total of 2,800 survey participants, the researchers found people were more willing to accept extreme disparities in wealth or resources, and less supportive of policies such as wealth or inheritance tax, in the context of successful individuals. They found the same level of inequality less fair when it applied to groups.
Driving that effect, the scholars propose, is our tendency to see internal traits as more responsible for individual successes and failures than for group outcomes. Also at work: the “ streaking star effect ,” in which Gilovich and co-author Jesse Walker, assistant professor of marketing at Ohio State, found people are more inspired by individual success than team success.
The first study in the new research asked about appropriate compensation for CEOs, noting that CEO salaries at the nation’s 350 biggest companies have grown from 42 times to 372 times that of the average worker since 1995.
All those surveyed thought the current ratio was too high. But those randomly assigned to consider the CEO of a specific company believe the CEO should earn a significantly higher multiple of the average worker’s salary than those considering the entire class of chief executives.
The paper, “ People Are More Tolerant of Inequality When it is Expressed in Terms of Individuals Rather than Groups at the Top ,” was published Oct. 18 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
For additional information, see this Cornell Chronicle story .
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences