Science says that money is a drug and does not give happiness
We like to think that we control money because it seems easy to control, but actually it is money that controls us . You just have to take a look around to realize how the world works. Money is capable of making us rethink our own principles and everyone is vulnerable to the influence of corruption. Surely you'll be thinking that this is not true ... All right, except you!
The psychology behind money and greed
But it is not I who affirms it, but a whole set of studies straddling psychology, economics and sociology, which investigate how we relate to money and what are the psychological consequences of owning large sums of money.
In this sense, a team of scientists from the Universitat Jaume I of Castellón concluded, after a study, that rejecting a bribe produces more stress than accepting it . Does it still seem strange to you that many politicians and businessmen are corrupt? Seen that way, money is like a drug and, as such, it is addictive.
People change their behavior because of money
People change their behavior if there is money in between. A study by the University of North Carolina found that if they offered money to a group of subjects, they were able to increase their scores on a verbal test .
Not only that, but money is able to make us behave like "fools": for example, mortgaging us for life or making us buy things that are not useful. But as much as some insist on believing that money gives happiness, there are several investigations that show that once we reach our basic needs, Earning more money does not make us happier .
Money also changes our way of thinking
Stephen Lea, a professor of psychology at the University of Exeter, thought that the theory that money is only a tool to get what we want is wrong. Well, he asked himself some questions: How can money be the end in itself and not the process to achieve it? Why is money able to blind us even against our own well-being? Why human beings are able to have a lot of money in excess and not distribute it?
It seems, therefore, that we are not satisfied with having the necessary money to be able to subsist , but with the money, as with the drug, we must continue increasing the dose. In fact, different investigations have found that the simple thought of making money activates the same brain regions as these substances.
On the other hand, an investigation by the University of Minnesota showed that money changes our way of thinking . According to the results of his study, just by looking at a photograph in which money appears, our brain acts as if we were to win a prize. That is, our brain areas related to mathematical memory and attention are activated in a considerable way.
Money can make you worse person
Surely the vast majority of people think that if one day we play the lottery will end the problems and we will be the happiest people in the world, even more so when the economy is as it is. But in a report by Manfred Kents de Vries, a professor of leadership at the ISEAD Business School, he says that Having a full wallet does not make you much happier .
In addition, other studies contrary to those who claim that money increases self-confidence, seem to confirm that it makes people less charitable, more unpleasant and harms social relationships.
Now, if you have money or if one day you get rich, you better spend your money on others. A study carried out by Michael Norton, a professor at the Harvard Business School, showed that When money is spent on other people, it makes you happier than when you spend it on yourself .
