Transcription
A UC Berkeley psychologist rigged the game of Monopoly to prove that rich people are delusional. And what he discovered explains why you're so broke and why wealthy people genuinely believe they earned every dollar, even when they didn't.
For years, I thought rich people had some secret strategy that I was missing. I'd read their books, copy their habits, and even try their morning routine. Yet, I was still stuck at 5 to 10K a month. What I didn't realize is that the psychology of getting rich isn't about what you do, it's about what your brain believes once money shows up. And this happens to literally everyone, and there's a study that shows it.
In 2012, Paul Piff ran one of the most uncomfortable psychological studies that have ever been recorded. He brought random strangers into a room to play Monopoly, but here's the catch. He had them flip a coin to decide whether or not they would be rich or poor. The rich player got twice the money when they passed go, and they got to roll two dice every time they rolled. The poor player knew the game was rigged. They watched the coin flip. They knew it was random.
Piff put up a bunch of hidden cameras in the room while they were playing Monopoly, and the rich people, within 15 minutes, started talking louder, started shoving their hands in the pretzel bowl more, and they ended up physically taking up more space in the room. They got louder, more aggressive, and they started mocking the poor player.
This is the part of the study that broke everybody's brains. Piff interviewed the rich players after they won the game, of course, how they won. And they said it was because of their strategy, their smart decisions, their property buying strategy. Not a single one mentioned because it was the game was rigged from the beginning.
This is what is known as self-attribution bias, and it is one of the largest reasons as to why you stay stuck in life and why so many people stay broke. Your brain is wired to credit yourself for when you win and to credit your environment for when you lose. But, the issue is that broke people do the exact opposite. They credit themselves for when they lose and they call it luck whenever they win.
Here's why this matters. When you don't have money, every setback feels like you weren't good enough, and it lowers your self-esteem every single time. And anytime you have a win, you credit to some sort of external force. You stop asking for the promotion. You stop trying to do more. You stop trying to start the business. You give up on life altogether because you play victim to your circumstances.
While rich people on the other hand, they could fail nine times out of 10, but that 10th time when they finally win, they'll just call it skill. That delusion isn't a bug, it's the feature. The engine that keeps them going even when the odds look stacked against them.
The day that I understood Piff's experiment, I completely changed my mindset and my reality. Every little small win, I celebrated it. The thousand view video, the little compliment that I got from my boss or from a friend. Everything that I was doing was me winning and was just my skill showing finally. Not because I was cocky, but instead because I was using the exact same psychology that rich people use to their advantage that allows them to get so rich.
Your brain will not let you build wealth until it believes that it deserves it. Share this with somebody who blames themselves for things that weren't their fault.