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We all know that money can't buy love or happiness. But could just thinking about money actually make you mean?
A new behavioral study finds that folks with money
on their minds are less helpful, less considerate and less willing to ask for
assistance or engage with others than those who have not been preconditioned to
money. On the bright side, the money-minded tend to be more independent and focused
and they tend to work longer on a task before asking for help. The
nine experiments in the study, published as "The Psychological Consequences
of Money" in a recent issue of Science Magazine, used random samples of students
and nonstudents at the University of Minnesota, Florida State University and the
University of British Columbia. Kathleen Vohs, the assistant
professor of marketing at the UM Carlson School of Management who authored the
article with Nicole Mead of FSU and Miranda Goode of UBC, says she was surprised
at how consistent the findings were across the nine experiments. "Money
may not be the root of all evil, but it might be the root of some indifference,"
she says. "It does make you perhaps indifferent to others." At
the drop of a pencil
To determine whether money in mind leads to
self-sufficient behavior, Vohs and her team divided their subjects into groups.
The control group received neutral preconditioning while the "money prime"
group was subtly reminded of money in various ways: a word scramble puzzle that
contained money references, a poster depicting different currencies, stacks of
play money or tokens, or reading an essay that mentioned money. Following
the preconditioning, the groups were given a task or placed in a staged situation
that tested measurable subconscious behavior. In the first
two experiments, subjects were given a puzzle and told that help was available
for the asking, either from the experimenter or a peer who had just completed
the exercise. Result: The money-prime participants waited significantly longer
than control subjects to ask for help. In the next four experiments,
subjects were asked for help in several scenarios: by the experimenter, by another
participant, by a passerby who spilled a box of pencils in a random accident or
by the suggestion that they donate to the University Student Fund. Result: The
money-prime subjects offered to fill out fewer data sheets, spent less time helping
a peer, picked up fewer pencils and donated less to the student fund than their
neutral counterparts. In the final three experiments, money-prime
participants placed more physical distance between themselves and a participant
partner, preferred solitary to group leisure activities and more frequently chose
to work alone rather than with a peer compared to the control participants. 'Social
cluelessness'
But does that necessarily mean money makes you mean? "No,
we don't find any evidence of that," Vohs says. "We take a lot of emotion
measures, and money reminders don't put people in a different mood. Since mean
people are generally in a bad mood, we rule that out. In nine studies, we found
no effect on mood." Then again, money primes weren't exactly
candidates for Mr. or Miss Congeniality either. "We didn't
find any animosity; it was more of a sense of social cluelessness. They're not
mindful of other people. We don't have any indication that they were being rude
to these people. It was more 'I can't help you' or 'I don't know how to help you.'
Granted, being helpful would be a nicer thing to do, but the intention wasn't
to be selfish or mean; they just didn't see that they had a role in this person's
life." The study doesn't surprise New York psychologist
and author April
Lane Benson. She's been counseling clients for years that the acquisition
of wealth for the wrong reasons is virtually a prescription for unhappiness. | 
