Studies try to find why poorer people are more charitable than the wealthy

Before the actor participant showed up, the real participant would be shown one of two videos. One video was designed to increase compassion and charitable awareness by showing scenes of suffering children and the like. The other video was neutral and just showed a quiet conversation from the movie "All the President's Men."

The actor participant would arrive late, flustered and distressed. After separating the real participant and the actor participant into different rooms, the test-giver would ask the real participant if he wanted to take on a greater share of the tasks to make it easier for the distressed actor participant.

The lower income participants helped out regardless of which video they were shown at the beginning of the test. Higher income people, however were different.

If a higher income person had only been shown the neutral video, they didn't help out much. But if they saw the compassion video, higher income people helped out as much as the lower income participants. "Seeing suffering makes them concerned about their partner," Kraus says.

It was all about noticing. The lower income people always noticed the distressed partner's need. The higher income people noticed when primed to notice.

Educating for compassion

This ties in with Atkinson's experiences in charity work in Salt Lake City. "When people find out about a need with a certain charity, or a cause, they are more than willing to give," she says. "People in the upper and middle class, if I give them information about something in which I am involved, and if I show them what the outcome would be from their donating, they usually give."

She also thinks poor people are quick to help because they know small things help. "They know that even a small amount of giving can make a huge difference," she says. "They know it is going to make a difference because they have experienced the difference themselves."

Carrie Roberts says that for poor people it isn't about tax deductions or tax shelters or trying to get something out of it. Roberts is the founder CEO of For the Charitable Community, Inc, which helps with networking, training and support for the non-profit sector. "They are giving because they want to give," she says. "They are not as organized, there are not strategies around it. People are more likely just to help each other out."

One of Roberts' clients is a free medical clinic. She said people with lower incomes will often try to volunteer or donate or do things to pay back the clinic even though the clinic charges nothing. "People regularly go beyond what they could or even they should be doing," she says. "It surprises me sometimes."

Wary for good and bad

Kraus said people with lower income are familiar with resource scarcity and how vulnerable it makes them. They worry about all the external factors that can immediately affect their lives. There is no cushion. There is no emergency fund.

People who have a lower income are always wary of possible threats to their precarious position, Kraus says. They are always on the lookout for negative emotions.

But such awareness makes people more generous. "Because you notice other people in need a lower class person may say, 'I know what it is like to be in need. We need to help those other people out. It is wrong to turn a blind eye,'" Kraus says.

And without the constant threat to financial, social and familial survival, middle and higher income people just don't notice things.

And, to Kraus, this explains why wealthier people are not jerks. "They're just focused," he says. "They are checking their cell phone. They are thinking about places A, B and C they need to go to today. And they are trying to check off their to-do list. If you were just to slow down a little bit and consider the people around you and their emotional experiences, you would become aware of other people's distress and you would probably be more likely to help people when they need it."

Learning to notice

And to get people in higher classes to notice, they need to have things brought to their attention — like how the sensitizing video in the study put higher income people in a charitable sensitive mindset.