Don't Compare Yourself to Those Better Off

My immigrant wife concurs with Bryan Caplan:

Poor Americans of all races ought to emulate immigrants - take low-skilled jobs and try to work their way up. Instead of comparing themselves to native-born Americans who earn more than they do, the American poor should compare themselves to unskilled workers who weren't born here. At least the American poor don't have to learn a new language and leave their homes in order to move up in the world.

Don't compare yourself to those better off? Good luck with that. There was that study:

...students at Harvard University were asked whether they would prefer (a) $50,000 a year while others got half that or (b) $100,000 a year while others got twice as much. A majority chose (a). They were happy with less, as long as they were better off than others. Other studies confirm that people are often more concerned about their income relative to others' than about their absolute income.

Presumably it's not just Harvard students, although it would be funny if the children of the elite were more egalitarian than the average American. I have heard that Americans are less concerned about wide income gaps than their counterparts in Europe.