This is hidden brain.
I'm Shankar Vedantu.
Let's say you make $500,000 a year.
That puts you in the top 1% of all Americans and far ahead of almost everyone else in the world.
That's up to right center field again in the shield.
But what if that $500,000 salary comes from being a professional baseball player for the Los Angeles Angels?
Pick up the victory tonight, the final three to one.
When you look over your shoulder in the locker room, you see this other guy, Mike.
Two potential news now of the biggest contract in baseball history.
Today we learned that LA Angels star Mike Trout is finalizing a deal to stay with that team for another twelve years and to earn $430 million over that time.
$430 million over twelve years, or $36 million a year, which makes your $500,000 look measly.
As we walk through the world, we are constantly comparing and contrasting our lives with those of others.
We think about ourselves in terms of being on a certain rung with some people above us and other people below us, where we think we stand on that ladder tells you a lot about a person's life and their life outcomes.
This week on Hidden Brain, the psychology of inequality, how our predisposition to compare ourselves to others affects our minds and our bodies.
Keith Payne is a psychologist at the University of North Carolina.
He's the author of the Broken Ladder, how inequality affects the way we live, think, and die.
Keith, welcome to Hidden Brain.
Thanks so much for having me.
I want to begin with a personal story that you've told in the book and elsewhere.
Keith, this goes back to your childhood.