“Who are the people that don’t do that?”

He is interested in learning about people who resist the corrupting influence of power or wealth -- those who do not cheat or lie to get more for themselves.

“And the question I want to answer is, what are the effects of social class on everyday life?”

He says the experiments do not show that some people are good and some people are bad.

“It’s not the case that if you are wealthy you are necessarily anti-social, selfish or corrupt, at all. That’s not what we document.”

Paul Piff says it does show that for some people, increased wealth and power and status can change their behavior. He says the attention to self at the expense of others can be costly to society.

The research at Berkeley has been done with North Americans from many ethnic groups and all races. Paul Piff says he and his colleagues are interested in working with researchers in other countries. They want to try to understand how wealth affects human behavior around the world.

“I’m always interested in creating collaborations with interested and curious investigators.

Would You Like To Be A Scientist

?

Next, an American researcher is making an appeal to what he calls “citizen scientists.” Would you like to participate?

These scientists are seeking more information about gasses that traps heat in the atmosphere. They have launched a project in an effort to better understand how one such gas, carbon dioxide, affects climate change. The project will depend on people just like you providing information about all of the world’s power plants. June Simms joins us with the details.