The upper class guys have issues recognizing limits of their knowledge, consider world in flux and change, acknowledge and integrate different perspectives in interpersonal situations

Brienza, Justin P, and Igor Grossmann. “Social Class and Wise Reasoning About Interpersonal Conflicts Across Regions, Persons and Situations”. Open Science Framework, Aug 21 2017, osf.io/wkgvm

Abstract: We propose that class is inversely related to a propensity of utilizing wise reasoning (recognizing limits of their knowledge, consider world in flux and change, acknowledge and integrate different perspectives) in interpersonal situations, contrary to established class advantage in abstract cognition. Two studies—an on-line survey from regions differing in economic affluence (N = 2,145) and a representative in-lab study with stratified sampling of adults from working and middle-class backgrounds (N = 299)—tested this proposition, indicating that higher social class consistently related to lower levels of wise reasoning across different levels of analysis, including regional and individual differences, and subjective construal of specific situations. The results held across personal and standardized hypothetical situations, across self-reported and observed wise reasoning, and when controlling for fluid and crystallized cognitive abilities. Consistent with the ecological framework, class differences in wise reasoning were specific to interpersonal (vs. societal) conflicts. These findings suggest that higher social class may also weigh individuals down by providing the ecological constraints that undermine wise reasoning about interpersonal affairs.

My commentary: The powerful and the rich have greater IQ and are accustomed to showing better performance in logic, and maybe due to this they fall into the excess of confidence, hubristic behavior, which prevents recognizing limits of their knowledge. If I remember well, this was more acute in the humanities, because they do not bang their heads so easily with really difficult problems.

When Newton found his laws of gravity, he soon realized that the three bodies problem was unsolvable (unlike the two bodies problem, like Moon-Earth interactions, or Sun-Earth interactions). Just that, to consider Moon, Earth and Sun, was not solvable analytically... One needs approximations to find solutions. And it was a normal thing decades ago that in the examinations, professors put questions that couldn't be completed in the time you got for your exam (now this is not possible, the student could be traumatized by the experience     :-)        ). This, finding so easily and so soon problems that exceed your abilities is something that makes you pause. And the guys in the humanities are much more cavalier with their skills...

Obviously, most of the rich are lawyers, etc., not mathematicians or physicists.

The next article, Benning et al., Psychopathy in the Medical Emergency Department (Journal of Personality Disorders, 2017), says somehting very interesing:

Psychopathy is a personality disorder representing an admixture of a fearless and dominant temperament with an impulsive and antisocial orientation. ... Both psychopathy factors were correlated with male gender, younger age, and more frequent average alcohol consumption. Fearless dominance was associated with agentic success (e.g., being employed, higher household income), fewer psychological problems, and less use of psychotropic medications, including anxiolytics.

It is true that " Impulsive antisociality was negatively related to both agentic and communal (e.g., ever being married) success," so success (like being rich or having high status) helps contain impulsivity... But a "fearless and dominant temperament" probably clouds one's capacity in "recognizing limits of their knowledge, consider world in flux and change, acknowledge and integrate different perspectives" in "interpersonal situations."