Body language basics: The rich-poor divide

A new study on socioeconomic status and body language has suggested that the rich are too taken with their wealth and have little time to pay attention to other economic classes.

According to a report in Calgary Herald, researchers from the University of California-Berkeley, who made observations between strangers of upper- and lower-class backgrounds, found “striking differences” in the engagement behaviours of the two groups.
socioeconomic angle

They found that individuals coming from the upper socioeconomic status were subject to fidgeting and not making eye contact, while those from the lower economic background were highly attentive, nodded or laughed when appropriate and maintained eye contact from time to time.

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The researchers showed separate groups of observers 60-second video clips of participants’ interactions. The observers were correctly able to guess each person’s socioeconomic status based solely on their physical behaviour.

The study that appears in the journal Psychological Science concluded that non-verbal cues can signal wealth – or lack thereof – to others, just as effectively as the clothing they wear or the cars they drive.
Moral codes
Dacher Keltner, who, along with fellow psychology professor Michael W. Kraus, led the new research, said there was an old idea that the upper class can become almost pathologically disengaged and one needs moral codes like noblesse oblige to get them to be effective citizens of the world.

Keltner said the study confirms the stereotypes of the rich, but raises questions about how the study stereotypes the poor.

Keltner’s findings, based on video-taped sessions with 100 people of various class backgrounds (as determined by family income and education), suggested that hardships may inspire connectivity rather than discourage it.