We are linked to the money from the crib, for reasons survival. But can money bring happiness? And friends? Psychology reveals how we can have a better relationship with money.
Money, money, money… We have such different attitudes towards money, but the taboos make it hard to talk about it.
As a result, money can affect relationships that would otherwise be happy.
As it writes, this situation is exacerbated by the growing financial divisions.
Only recently have psychologists to be truly realized why money is a deeply emotional theme – full of meanings and beliefs – rather than simply a need to pay the bills.
Can money buy happiness?
An obvious fact about money is that, at a basic level, of course it is important: buy us the essentials for survival. But, more controversially, it can also be said that money You can also buy happiness.
Several cited by New Scientist have proven that as income increases, well-being also increases.
Proof of the deep psychological impact of money is visible even in brain images. The fact that we have a loss or to be hit by an unexpected account activates regions similar to those who activate when we feel pain, especially social pain, such as being ostracized by friends.
And when money is scarce – as many people are happening at this time – neurons shoot in the amygdala and the brain hippocampus, starting the physiological response to stress.
All of this affects mental and physical health, explained to New Scientist Giulia SesiniPsychologist at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy.
“Constant financial concerns lead to cognitive overload. When this happens, our cognitive resources are so busy to focus on potential threats and problems that can harm our ability to make good financial and life decisions,” he says.
MONEY LINKED SINCE THE CRYM
Regardless of your heritage, the way two people think about money is different. Psychologists are now in setting this gap.
Our reaction to money – or at least to your equivalent in terms of material resources – starts earlier than you might imagine.
A new investigation indicates that at 15 months, the you drink they are already beginning to evaluate people based on wealth indicators and prefer to interact with those who seem richer.
As Sesini says, “this may seem mercenary, but in evolutionary terms, manifestations of wealth are Honest Aptitude Indicators”And it makes sense that children associate with fit individuals because it increases their survival hypotheses.
Given that understanding of those who have goods and what it means early on, it is not surprising that income, social class and parents’ financial habits have a big impact on children.
Curious patterns regarding money
Psychologists have used a variety of questionnaires that capture the perceptions, beliefs and feelings related to money.
Sesini recently led two major analyzes of this type of investigation.
First analysis
In the first, he analyzed the results of 226 articles that explored a number of potentially influential factors such as age, personality, personal values and wealth.
Some standards were quite clear: on the one hand, younger people tend to attribute greater importance to money and to associate it more strongly with power and freedom. They are also more anxious about money.
Some personality traits are also influential: neuroticism and conscientiousness, for example, can increase financial anxiety. People conscientious are often less materialistic.
In turn, introverts are more susceptible than outgoing to see money as an evil. There is also a connection between “love of money” and unhealthy behaviors, such as lies and glow.
Second analysis
In a second investigation, Sesini and his colleagues analyzed the differences between men and women.
Asked men tended to see money as a way to control, influence and impress other people, and as a symbol of power and prestige.
Already the women were more likely to see money as a source of anxiety and stress, but also Associate with security and love.
Generally, the men had higher scores in terms of “love of money” than women And they were more likely to believe that the fact that they became richer would make them more attractive and desirable.
People who see money as a sign of power, status and prestige tend to be more impulsive, less friendly and more Machiavellian – cunning, calculating and unscrupulous.
Money does not make friends
Investigations also revealed why the ostensible demonstrations of wealth are often a ‘shot for the culathra’.
Although several studies indicate that people tend to think that displaying the Money will help them win friendsone from 2021, quoted by the New Scientist discovered the opposite.
“The signs of wealth reveals two things: that a person is rich and who has decided to display his wealth. ostentation that is bad for your image“ Deborah Smallfrom the University of Yale, which was part of the study.
Be materialistic – ie having an excessive focus on the acquisition of wealth and assets that show status – Harms relationships.
One published in October last year attests that. When researchers at the University of Cardiff in the UK exposed people to money -centered messages and related to the statute, they had higher expectations for others, which generated dissatisfaction with the people around them.
But being non-materialist is not necessarily a better way.
In his study on the influence of various factors on financial attitudes, Sesini found that less materialistic people tend to have a more “conservative and retentive” approach to money – which can spoil relationships.
But we should make us friends of money
And how?
Given these conclusions – and the apparent stringing rope between having enough money and maintaining a kind of psychological distance from it – one million euros question is: How to be a friend of money?
Of course there is no certain answer. However, psychologists point out that it is fundamental Be aware of how money manipulates our mind.
Ask yourself: How do I feel when I think of cash?
The solution is to face and talk about money without taboos.
“This simple question can reveal a lot about our relationship with money and offer valuable information about our personal attitudes and emotions,” explains Giulia Sesini. As for the answer: “Talking about these sensations can benefit relationships in general”.
