(Live Science). The cream of society may rise to the top, but so might the scum — researchers now find that people in the upper crust may be more likely to engage in lying, cheating and other kinds of unethical activity than those in lower classes.

These new findings do not mean that everyone of high status behaves unethically, nor that everyone in lower society behaves ethically, scientists cautioned.

Lower-class folk, living with fewer resources, might seem more driven to behave unethically to improve their lot, the researchers suspected. However, upper-class individuals, having greater resources, might have more latitude to focus solely on themselves, giving rise to unethical behavior.

The fancier the car you drive the unethical you most likely behave…people who considered themselves upper class had greater tendencies to make unethical decisions. This included unrightfully stealing something, lying in a negotiation, cheating at a game of chance to boost their chances of winning cash or endorsing unethical behavior at work, such as stealing cash, receiving bribes and overcharging customers…upper-class individuals often acted unethically three to four times more often than lower-class individuals.

That doesn’t mean that rich people aren’t inherently evil. Instead this has more to do with socioeconomic status…that means if we take lower socioeconomic status people and just change their social values very subtly, they'll act just as unethically as upper-class individuals. The patterns of behavior naturally arise from increased wealth and status compared to others…In addition, upper-income and more educated participants were way more likely to have reported shoplifting in their lives…juveniles of upper socioeconomic status are just as likely to engage in delinquent patterns of behavior as those of lower socioeconomic status, but they're driven by different things. Except lower socioeconomic-status juveniles report that alienation and ostracization from communities and increased need leads them to commit certain types of transgressions, while wealthier adolescents report increased willingness to take risks and an increased sense of power and entitlement…it is also indicated that upper-class individuals are often less cognizant of others, worse at identifying the emotions others feel, less generous and altruistic, and more disengaged socially — for instance, checking their cellphones or doodling on paper during social interactions. Such research might support these new findings — it may be easier to act unethically toward others if you are not thinking about how they feel…self-perpetuating cycle, where promotion of self-interest increases status in society, which further increases willingness to behave unethically might help explain the runaway rise in inequality in the last 50 years.