California researchers this week confirmed it: The rich really are different. But maybe not in the ways you think.

Nope. Those exposed to private prep schools, nanny-aided childhoods and the formalities of grand dinner parties seem to lie, cheat, cut people off in traffic, and “endorse unethical behavior in the workplace,” according to UC Berkeley.

This is what being a class act is all about:

Paul Piff, a doctoral student in psychology at UC Berkeley, looked at seven studies on the wealthy and their behavior and published his analysis and conclusions this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Ever drive in Beverly Hills? According to a Berkeley statement on the research:

In two field studies on driving behavior, upper-class motorists were found to be four times more likely than the other drivers to cut off other vehicles at a busy four-way intersection and three times more likely to cut off a pedestrian waiting to enter a crosswalk.

Yep. That's the 90210.

In another experiment, participants happened to be in a room where there was a jar of candy reserved for children. According to Berkeley, “Upper-class participants helped themselves to twice as much candy as did their counterparts in other classes.”

Yeah, baby!

In other experiments the rich were found to have been more willing to deceive job applicants about a position that would soon be eliminated (fun!); they were also more likely to lie when self reporting results of dice rolling (explains the stock market and Republican tax policy).

In fact, when playing games with dice, they were “more likely to report higher scores than would be possible,” according to the school. Piff says:

The increased unethical tendencies of upper-class individuals are driven, in part, by their more favorable attitudes toward greed.

With that in mind, we know you're voting Mitt all the way.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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