Hemingway is responsible for a famous misquotation of Fitzgerald’s.
According to Hemingway, a conversation between him and Fitzgerald went:
Fitzgerald: The rich are different than you and me.
Hemingway: Yes, they have more money.
Studies are supporting the alleged Fitzgerald view.
Jack Broom is reporting in the Seattle Times article, Mercer Island dad may fight $250 fine for son’s party:
A Mercer Island man who expects to be the first person cited under a city ordinance holding parents responsible for underage drinking in their homes — even if they are away and unaware — says he may go to court to challenge the citation.
“I have a problem with the idea that you can fine someone for someone else’s actions,” said Greg James. “The more I think about it, the more I think it’s kind of a dumb law.”
James said Friday he has not decided whether he will pay the $250 fine, and has not been officially informed that he would be cited.
Police earlier this week said on Feb. 24, officers broke up a party that had drawn about 75 teens to the family’s home in the 7600 block of Southeast 37th Place, and involved large numbers of teens consuming alcohol.
Police said the party would trigger the first use of the ordinance that took effect in January.
James said his 16-year-old son, a junior at Mercer Island High School, had invited seven or eight friends over for pingpong, but word of the gathering quickly spread through cellphones and social media.
“So pretty soon, you have teenagers streaming through the door, and before you know it, you have a big party.” James was taking the family’s three younger siblings skiing at the time.
“Teenagers are teenagers. They’re not the smartest people in the world at that stage….”
Earlier this week, James told a TV reporter that despite his feelings about the law, he would go ahead and pay the fine.
But on Friday, James said he is reconsidering, in part because an attorney he knows told him he doubts the Mercer Island ordinance is constitutional. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017708126_party10m.html
Is the behavior of this father an example of a recent study?
Maia Szalavitz has an interesting Time article, Why the Rich Are Less Ethical: They See Greed as Good:
While stereotypes suggest that poor people are more likely to lie and steal, new research finds that it’s actually the wealthy who tend to behave unethically. In a series of experiments — involving everything from dangerous driving to lying in job negotiations and cheating to get a prize — researchers found that, across the board, richer people behaved worse. But, rather than class itself, the authors suggest that it’s views about greed that may largely explain the difference.
In the first two experiments, University of California, Berkeley, psychologists positioned observers at San Francisco intersections to watch for drivers who didn’t wait their turn at lights or yield for pedestrians. The researchers noted the make, age and appearance of cars — a marker for the drivers’ socioeconomic status — as well as the drivers’ gender and approximate age.
If you ever thought that the guy driving a late-model Mercedes is more of a jerk than the one behind the wheel of a battered Honda, you’d be right. Even after controlling for factors like traffic density and the driver’s gender and perceived age (younger men tend to drive faster and often rudely), drivers of the newest, most high-status cars were much more likely to cut other drivers off.
“The drivers of the most expensive vehicles were four times more likely to cut off drivers of lower status vehicles,” says Paul Piff, a doctoral student at Berkeley and lead author of the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Drivers in fancy cars were also three times more likely than those in beaters to threaten pedestrians by failing to yield when the walkers had the right of way at a crosswalk. So much for the theory that owners of expensive cars try to protect their vehicles from being sullied by common blood!
MORE: The Rich Are Different: More Money, Less Empathy
In five further experiments, researchers looked at moral behavior in more controlled lab settings. The experiments were designed to determine what made people lapse into bad behavior, and how difficult it would be to change it. The results offer some hope in an otherwise bleak picture.
In one study, participants reported their own socioeconomic status and then read descriptions of people stealing or benefiting from things to which they were not entitled. When asked how likely they would be to engage in similar behavior, the richest of 105 undergraduates were more likely admit that they would do so, compared with those from middle-class or lower-class backgrounds. Of course, this finding could simply reflect the fact that the rich are more likely to get away with such things — and therefore may feel more comfortable admitting it — so the researchers also studied actual behavior.
In the next experiment, researchers asked 129 students to compare themselves with those who were either far richer or far poorer than they were. Previous studies have found that this manipulation influences people’s perceptions of class and their own behavior, with those primed to feel wealthy behaving less generously and becoming less sensitive to the emotions of others, regardless of their actual socioeconomic class.
The participants were then offered candy from a jar that they were told would otherwise be given to children in another lab. Those primed to feel rich took more candy than those who were made to feel disadvantaged. Fortunately, there were no children actually waiting for the sweets.
MORE: Study: The Rich Really Are More Selfish
But why would people who feel socially elevated behave less ethically? The next set of experiments sought to examine this question, finding a connection between wealth and positive perceptions of greed. Among adults who were recruited online for one such experiment, those who were wealthier were more likely to lie in a simulated job interview scenario. The participants — acting as managers — were told that their hypothetical applicants would be willing to take a lower salary in exchange for job security. The applicants wanted a two-year contract position, but the managers knew that the available job would last only six months before being eliminated — and that they could get a bonus for negotiating a lower salary. People of high social class were more likely to lie to the job seekers, researchers found.
The reason for this was not necessarily their class, but the fact they agreed with Wall Street‘s Gordon Gekko that greed is good. When the researchers examined the connection between beliefs about greed and unethical behavior, they found that class was no longer a significant variable. In other words, rich people tended to take advantage of others primarily because they saw selfish and greedy behavior as acceptable, not just because they had more money or higher social status.h people are fairly sensitive and just need little reminders.”
http://healthland.time.com/2012/02/28/why-the-rich-are-less-ethical-they-see-greed-as-good/#ixzz1ogreeDSb
Citation:
Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior
+ Author Affiliations
- aDepartment of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; and
- bRotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 3E6
- Edited* by Richard E. Nisbett, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, and approved January 26, 2012 (received for review November 8, 2011)
Abstract
Seven studies using experimental and naturalistic methods reveal that upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals. In studies 1 and 2, upper-class individuals were more likely to break the law while driving, relative to lower-class individuals. In follow-up laboratory studies, upper-class individuals were more likely to exhibit unethical decision-making tendencies (study 3), take valued goods from others (study 4), lie in a negotiation (study 5), cheat to increase their chances of winning a prize (study 6), and endorse unethical behavior at work (study 7) than were lower-class individuals. Mediator and moderator data demonstrated that upper-class individuals’ unethical tendencies are accounted for, in part, by their more favorable attitudes toward greed.
There are some strategies for preventing substance abuse. If this father fights the ticket, he is sending the message that there are not consequences for behavior and with enough money and power you can appear to escape.
Partnership for a Drug Free America has some better strategies in their 6 Parenting Practices Help Reduce the Chance That Your Child Will Develop A Drug or Alcohol Problem:
Here are 6 ways to help you reduce the chance that your teenage child will drink, use drugs or engage in other risky behavior.
Build a Warm & Supportive Relationship with Your Child
Be a Good Role Model When It Comes To Drinking, Taking Medicine & Handling Stress
Know Your Child’s Risk Level
Know Your Child’s Friends
Monitor, Supervise & Set Boundaries
Have Ongoing Conversations & Provide Information About Drugs & Alcohol
http://www.drugfree.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/partnership_6_components_tool_final.pdf
This parent needs to set an example for their child. The wrong place to look for parenting advice is from most practicing attorneys.
Related:
Parents giving liquor to minors: New Mercer Island law https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/12/28/parents-giving-liquor-to-minors-new-mercer-island-law/
Underage drinking costs society big-time https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/underage-drinking-costs-society-big-time/
Dr. Wilda says this about that ©
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