Money’s been called the root of all evil and the sign of success. Some give it away freely ... and others sell their souls to get more. New research, though, shows how money shapes the human brain for self-sufficiency, impacts potential volunteers, distances some people, and makes others hesitate to help a person in need.
A researcher at University of Minnesota conducted by Kathleen Vohs published interesting discoveries in the Nov. 17 issue of Science.
A series of nine experiments by Vohs establishes that money changes people's minds. 
One experiment, showed participants the concept of money through a word puzzle and discovered later that participants were less helpful to needy people.
Vohs points out how effect can be negative, or it can be positive. Exposure to money, and especially to the concept of money, raises a person’s self-sufficiency.
Observations showed that participants exposed to money images tended to work longer, and appeared to be less helpful to others. In fact they preferred to operate alone. In fact these participants tended to put more physical distance between themselves and new acquaintances as compared to people who are not reminded of money.
What have you noticed about people who appear more preoccupied with the concept of money? Is self-sufficiency high and cooperation low – where you work?
Hello. I was so happy to see that someone other than myself reads Science. I often quote from Science, Nature and a host of other journals in my writing (I learned that a joke among some of my editors is to guess how many "hard science" links I'll include in a column), so was thrilled to see someone else doing the same. I read the article you mentioned, too, and will be posting some thoughts on it based on NextStage's research in the future. And congrats on getting into BizzBites with it. Good work and nicely done. - Joseph
Posted by: Joseph Carrabis | December 10, 2006 7:11 AM | Permalink to Comment