Thinking About Greed-Psychology and Sociology

Greed is something that is fairly prevalent in society. There are just those who want and will do what it takes to get what they want. Such individuals make decisions and choices that lead to zero-sum games. I often wonder how such individuals can do what is only in their best interest and not consider anyone else unless it serves that interest. To me it appears that such behavior has roots in 1. Psychology and 2. Sociology

Psychology: Greed seems to be influence by anomie (lack of ethical standards), mixed with a low internal locus of control and a zero sum game mentality (Xinying, etc. al 2020). 

Greed is thus follows the pattern of low values, mixed with low self-control and the need to win at all costs. Such individuals have personality traits that seek to fulfill their own needs.

Sociology: Greed is likely to be more prevalent in societies/groups that don't emphasis integrity. We come to accept greed when we do not hold others accountable for bad behavior creating an environment where greed can flourish.

Let me give you an example. People who engage in fraud do so out of the need to obtain for themselves something that doesn't belong to them. While some of this behavior is rooted in the individual there is a social context to that greed. 

If as a society we support those who engage in greed, emulate their behavior in our media, and fail to hold criminal behavior associated with greed to account then we are creating an environment where greed will likely become increasingly common. 

People often talk about how selfish people have become. Part of that is based in our disconnection from each other and part of that is based in our own culture of "win at all costs" (I actually don't think people are becoming more selfish. They are becoming indifferent.). 

Changing the behavior of greed means first changing how we see such people. When someone acts consistently greedy we should seek to distance ourselves from them. When people act with integrity we should move toward them. 

The problem is when we have poor values we act and function of erroneous assumptions of self-impotence. I am thinking of an example where greediness has led to all other types of poor behaviors in a group context where proper values are not being emulated. When people complain about how self-fish people are the first thing I think is, "How did we contribute to that?" Perhaps its through our indifference and lack of accountability.

Xinying Jiang, Xinyan Hu, Zhenzhen Liu, Xiaomin Sun, Gang Xue (2020).Greed as an adaptation to anomie: The mediating role of belief in a zero-sum game and the buffering effect of internal locus of control. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 152,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.109566.