The Psychological Consequences of Money

"I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you." - Shylock- The Merchant of Venice.

This is a comforting vein of research for those of us of relatively limited finances! Vohs et al. show that merely thinking about money can push people into a narrowly individualistic frame of mind. I'm sure it doesn't apply to economists though!

Abstract:
Money has been said to change people’s motivation (mainly for the better) and their behavior toward others (mainly for the worse). The results of nine experiments suggest that money brings about a self-sufficient orientation in which people prefer to be free of dependency and dependents. Reminders of money, relative to nonmoney reminders, led to reduced requests for help and reduced helpfulness toward others. Relative to participants primed with neutral concepts, participants primed with money preferred to play alone, work alone, and put more physical distance between themselves and a new acquaintance.

Burgoyne and Lea discuss the findings and quote as an example, the figure that across 15 different cultures, “financial success” as a goal was in direct opposition to goals concerning “community” (although less so for poorer cultures). They finish by reflecting on the relationship between materialism and well-being: "being overly preoccupied with money, especially for the “wrong” reasons is characteristic of those who score highly on a measure of materialism, and such people tend to be less happy than others. Given the centrality of money in modern societies, gaining a more comprehensive understanding of the causes and effects of behavior toward money is clearly not just a scientific project; it also has a contribution to make toward understanding, and perhaps enhancing, human happiness and well-being."