Beyond Awestruck:
The Scientific Search for Connection
Watch Dr. Paul Piff and his team of experts as they explore the awe-inspiring impact of Lake Tahoe
and how those experiences can positively influence people’s well-being.
Does Money Make
You Mean?
Watch as Dr. Paul Piff shares what a rigged Monopoly game experiment revealed
about the impact of structural advantages on behavior.
Selected Op-Eds
Selected Interviews & Podcasts
Selected Media Coverage and Popular Press
April 11, 2026: ‘Moon joy’ and the overview effect—how views from space change us. Scientific American.
June 15, 2025: What You’ve Suspected Is True: Billionaires Are Not Like Us. The Rolling Stone.
May 28, 2024: Kindness in the Time of Cicadapocalypse. The New York Times.
April 10, 2024: Did You Really Need to Be There to See the Eclipse? The New York Times
April 7, 2024: These scientists think an ‘awe’-some eclipse could help unite Americans in troubled times, The Los Angeles Times
December 8, 2023: Trading Places. NPR Marketplace
September 24, 2022: A solar eclipse can promote psychological tendencies that are vital to collective life, study finds. PsyPost
September 15, 2022: Why is it awesome that your brain can experience awe. The Washington Post
September 5, 2022: Work Is Intrinsically Good. Or Maybe It’s Not? The New York Times
July 14, 2022: How the Upwardly Mobile Feel About Wealth. The Wall Street Journal
June 28, 2022: That’s rich: self-made millionaires less sympathetic to poor. The Times UK
January 3, 2022: Awe: The 'little earthquake' that could free your mind. BBC
November 18, 2021: Stop Lying to Yourself. The Atlantic
June 1, 2021: How to Feel Small. The New York Times
April 9, 2021: Beyond Pandemic’s Upheaval, a Racial Wealth Gap Endures. The New York Times
April 4, 2021: Research Proves It: There’s No Such Thing as Noblesse Oblige
January 19,2021: Why rich people tend to think they deserve their money. Marketplace
April 15, 2020: The Rich Really Are Different. They Can Shelter In Nicer Places. NPR Morning Edition
March 19, 2020: How we can help one another. The New York Times
October 31, 2019: Teaching the science of compassion. The Los Angeles Times
April 4, 2019: Beyond Biden: How close is too close? The New York Times
March 15, 2019: What the college admissions scandal reveals about the psychology of wealth in America, Vox
August 13, 2018: Are rich people more likely to lie, cheat, steal? Science explains the world of Manafort and Gates, The Washinton Post
December 19, 2017: Rich people experience happiness in a more self-centered way than poor people, study suggests. Los Angeles Times
December 19, 2017: Money can’t buy happiness, but it does change how you experience it. TIME Magazine
November 7, 2017: They're rich but trying to reach beyond the money bubble. The New York Times
October 14, 2017: Does Boardwalk make you a jerk? NPR Live from the Poundstone Institute
October 13, 2017: Boomers: what's your American Dream story? Forbes
May 11, 2017: You didn't build that: Why remembering your good fortune can be good for you and others. PBS SoCal
May 6, 2017: Forget calories. Exercise for awe. The New York Times
October 21, 2016: How can you tell if someone is kind? The Washington Post
October 7, 2016: Feeling awe may be the secret to health and happiness. Parade
October 5, 2016: Wealth can make us selfish and stingy. Two psychologists explain why. World Economic Forum
June 20, 2016: The science behind why power corrupts. PBS Newshour
June 8, 2016: Why rich people are not as happy as they could be. Harvard Business Review
January 1, 2016: Privilege, Pathology, and Power. The New York Times
October 8, 2015: In a game of wealth, fat cats who don’t share keep winning. PBS Newshour
August 18, 2015: Awe: the powerful emotion with strange and beautiful effects. The Guardian
August 4, 2015: How gazing into the Grand Canyon.... The Washington Post
May 22, 2015: Why do we experience Awe? The New York Times
May 18, 2015: Go chase waterfalls! Experiencing awe helps us be more giving. Today
May 6, 2015: The shaky moral compass of silicon valley. The New York Times
March 16, 2015: Does money make you mean? BBC World Service
January 23, 2015: Privilege is a privilege, and a responsibility. The New York Times
October 4, 2014: Crossing class lines. The New York Times
April 25, 2014: Money can't buy trustworthiness. The Atlantic
April 4, 2014: Does money make you mean? NPR TED Radio Hour
February 2, 2014: How inequality hollows out the soul. The New York Times
December, 2013: Something's fishy. APA Monitor
August 21, 2013: Does wealth breed narcissism: The new "Mirror, mirror on the wall" study. PBS Newshour
August 20, 2013: Wealthy selfies: How being rich increases narcissism. TIME
August 14, 2013: Prius drivers are the worst (joke). Conan O'Brien monologue
August 12, 2013: The rich drive differently, a study suggests. The New York Times
June 21, 2013: Exploring the psychology of wealth. PBS Newshour
April 1, 2013: Why the rich don't give to charity. The Atlantic
March 30, 2013: Our inconsistent ethical instincts. The New York Times
March 14, 2013: How the other half gives. Financial Times
December 14, 2012: When it comes to charity, the poor give more. Marketplace Money, National Public Radio
August 20, 2012: Study reveals the geography of charitable giving. Morning Edition, National Public Radio
July 10, 2012: Does money make people less compassionate? The Patt Morrison Show
July 1, 2012: How money makes people act less human. New York Magazine
June 2, 2012: Conversations with thinkers. The John Batchelor Show
May 12, 2012: Fables of Wealth. The New York Times
May, 2012: Findings. Harper's Magazine
April 10, 2012: How wealth reduces compassion. Scientific American
March 16, 2012: Greed prevents good. The New York Times
March 4, 2012: Should we trust the upper class? BBC
March 4, 2012: Other people's suffering. The New York Times
March 3, 2012: Culture Warriors. The O'Reilly Factor, Fox News
February 28, 2012: Are the wealthy less ethical? Marketplace Money, National Public Radio
February 28, 2012: Why the rich are less ethical: They see greed as good. TIME
February 27, 2012: Wealthy, motivated by greed, are more likely to cheat, study finds. Los Angeles Times
February 27, 2012: Are rich people more unethical? CNN
February 27, 2012: Self-interest spurs society's 'elite" to lie, cheat on tasks, study finds. Bloomberg (See newscast here)
February, 2011: Servile disobedience. Harper's Magazine
September 9, 2010: Who gives more, the haves or the have-nots? The Patt Morrison Show
August 20, 2010: The way we live now: The charitable-giving divide. The New York Times Magazine
August 8, 2010: Poor are more charitable than the wealthy. All Things Considered, National Public Radio
July 29, 2010: The rich are different from you and me. The Economist