I don't see a good basis for applying any conclusions -- to the wealthy or anyone else -- in the article.
Muliple questions arise for me when reading it. These are just a few of them.
"Piff and his colleagues used a variety of measures to gauge the participants' socioeconomic status, such as education levels, annual income (which ranged from about $16,000 to $150,000), and the participants' own perception of their social standing."
A "variety of measures" were used:
1. Education level
2. Annual Income Level ($16,000 - 150,000)
3. The person's own perceptions of their social standing
I can't figure out, if a variety of measures were used -- including education and personal perception -- how any conclusions could be drawn to equate any findings strictly with "rich."
As I see it, if one accepts any conclusions as though they apply to "the rich" (apparently, the "mega" up to $150,000 annual income rich) one would also have to apply the same conclusions to those with higher education and those who perceive themselves to be above-average socially. Neither of those two measures necessarily involve abundance of money. Unless...one could be a broke grad student and still be "rich." Or, one could be completely broke and just be unwilling to identify oneself as average or below average socially" and qualify as rich, as well.
Of course, the term "higher status" is actually what is used for wealth of education and perceived social status -- it is just used interchangeably with "rich" for creating the desired perception and slant of the article.
"Regardless of the measure used, however, higher-status people tended to behave in ways that served their own self-interest."
I see serving one's own self-interest as good, as long as it does not violate the interests of others, and does not involve theft, deception, and other "bad" behaviors. Getting an education is an obvious example of a behavior that serves one's own self-interest -- so is the prudent handling of one's resources, including money. Eating organic food serves one's self-interest. The above quoted statement seems to imply that behavior that benefits a person's own self-interest automatically indicates behavior that violates or disregards the interests of others.
