Just looking at the bill is, of course, not enough for this. But if you are in a situation in which you can, by the will of circumstances, receive or lose some amount of money, or negotiate about them, then brain activity increases H. C. Breiter, I. Aharon, D. Kahneman, et al. Functional imaging of neural responses to expectancy and experience of monetary gains and losses / Neuron . This is especially true of the nucleus accumbens, an area that is part of the reward system and is important for processing motivation and emotions.
The riskier the situation, the stronger the activity. Brain scans of people who participated in the experiment turned out to be almost identical to the results of MRI of cocaine addicts.
There is an opinion that people earn little because they are not smart enough. However, scientists have managed to prove that the opposite is true: lack of money forces them to make the wrong decisions. Due to stress caused by financial problems, a person partially loses the ability to process information, analyze the situation and determine priorities.
In the USA, researchers asked a group of people to solve a hypothetical problem — to think about how to pay for car repairs. And then they gave us several unrelated spatial and logical tasks. It turned out that people with low incomes did not do well S. Mullainathan, E. Shafir. Scarcity: Why having too little means so much with a task if you had to pay a lot for repairs, and it's good if it's not enough. The high-income subjects were equally successful in both situations.
For the next experiment, the researchers moved to India and asked farmers to complete several tasks before harvesting, when there was no money, and after. And again, the hypothesis was confirmed.
Scientists have concluded that the more you worry about a difficult financial situation, the fewer resources you have left for other things. So it's better not to make important decisions in an environment where a mouse has hung up in the refrigerator, and the sole of your favorite sneakers has come off. There is a great risk that it will only get worse.
In one study, participants were divided into pairs. One of them had to offer the terms of the deal, the other had to accept or reject. Both received money only if they could agree. Logically, it would be beneficial for the second subject to agree to any option in order to get at least something. However, people from this group rejected A. G. Sanfeyjames K. Rilling, et al. The neural basis of economic decision-making in the Ultimatum Game / Science half of the sentences in which small amounts were discussed.
The prefrontal cortex is responsible for complex decisions. It was she who worked when the participants heard how much they could get. But if the offer was unfair, then the activity affected the insular lobe responsible for emotions.It is important that there are spindle-shaped cells in the insular lobe, as well as in the stomach. And this digestive organ often responds when it comes to strong emotions. So the unfairness of the deal can be felt both in the brain and in the stomach.
If you work hard, you will get a lot — everything seems logical here. But rich people tend to think that their earnings are only their merit. At the same time, they willingly write off the factors of chance, luck and other circumstances beyond the control of a person.
This works not only with real money, but also with bills from Monopoly. This game has been destroying families and friendships since 1935. But in the experiment, the conditions were tightened and just gave pairs of players different rules. One of them didn't have a chance to win.
The researchers recorded Paul Piff. Does money make you mean? / TEDxMarin , how the participants behave. The more a person won, the more rude and tactless he was towards other people at the table. He celebrated the victory in advance, loudly slapping the piece on the playing field during his turn.
It's worth remembering that well-being can influence how you treat people. It won't always be fair: sometimes it's about you, not them. Keep track of this moment so as not to turn into an arrogant asshole.
Logically, we continue the previous paragraph. People with lower economic status have a better understanding of what the facial expressions of others mean. This is confirmed by M. E. W. Varnum, C. Blais, et al. Social class affects neural empathic responses / Culture and Brain research on neural empathic responses.
However, such results do not indicate a special kindness of poor people. Simply because of their constantly vulnerable position, they are forced to react more acutely to potential social threats. The favorable life of the rich is less dependent on others.
Representatives of the privileged classes are more likely to violate laws and ethical standards. It's not just about money, it's about inequality in general. But finances, of course, affect the situation. For example, people in expensive cars were four times more likely to interfere Affluent people more likely to be scofflaws / Greater Good Magazine different at intersections than drivers of cheaper cars. And the subjects from the upper classes were more likely to cheat, cheat and more willing to agree to participate in dubious schemes.
In one study X. Zhou, K. D. Vohs, R. F. Baumeister. Reminders of money alter social distress and physical pain / Psychological Science participants were asked to put their hands in a bowl of water heated to 50 °C. Before that, some of them counted the money, others just sheets of paper. The subjects from the first group felt much less discomfort than those from the second.
Two conclusions can be drawn here at once:
