Does Money Make you Mean?
Discovery
BBC
4.3 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 16 March 2015
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jack Stewart heads to Los Angeles, home to many of America's rich and famous, to explore what impact wealth has on our moral behaviour. Hollywood often has plenty to say about the corrupting influence of money, but can science tell us even more.
Professor Paul Piff of the University of California explains his research, which finds that the richer a person becomes the more selfish, narcissistic and less generous they tend to be. However, not everyone is convinced that the American dream is a recipe for immoral behaviour, with opinions expressed by some rather unusual contributors – straight from the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
(Photo: Jack Stewart talking to Spiderman, BBC copyright)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Rory Stewart and I grew up wanting to be a hero and I'm still fascinated by the ideas of heroism. |
| 0:08.9 | In my new series, I'm taking in the long sweep of history from Achilles to Zelensky and asking, what is a hero? |
| 0:16.2 | Simply doing your job, being a decent human being. |
| 0:20.0 | A true hero is someone who just kind of shines by their own light, |
| 0:23.9 | and that light is to be recognised by others. |
| 0:26.5 | The Long History of Heroism with me, Rory Stewart. |
| 0:29.5 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:32.6 | Thank you for downloading from the BBC. |
| 0:35.4 | For details of our complete range of podcasts and our terms of use, |
| 0:39.5 | go to BBCworldservis.com slash podcasts. |
| 0:47.4 | Okay, for Mr. Mullahed, Mr. Mithra. |
| 0:51.0 | Prepare your cameras to take photos with Mr. Mussol. |
| 0:55.0 | You know? Welcome, guys, to the TMZ Hollywood tour. |
| 0:57.0 | We're going to go to all the big celeb hotspots in Los Angeles |
| 1:00.0 | where the paparazzi hangs out or the celebrities party. |
| 1:03.0 | Hey, it's Captain America. |
| 1:05.0 | You're hanging out here on the Walk of Fame. |
| 1:08.0 | You do work for tips. You rely on the generosity of other people walking up |
| 1:11.9 | and down here. Do you notice any difference in who gives you more money and who's less likely to pay? |
| 1:17.5 | Sometimes the poorest person can be more generous. They can give a $10 tip. Hollywood has always |
| 1:22.3 | had plenty to say about the corrupting influence of wealth, both on and off screen. |
| 1:29.8 | And of course, this area tracks people from all over the world searching for fame and fortune, their own version of the American dream. |
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