Why the Rich Are so Cold

http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2009/09/18/why-the-rich-are-so-cold/

This article explains the influence money has on both emotional and physical pain. Specific studies conducted conclude that handling money is correlated with self-confidence in social situations and reduces sensitivity to physical pain.

Upon reading the title of the article, "Why the Rich are so Cold", my initial reaction and expected hypothesis would have been that wealth/money does create emotional stability that would yield results that handling money increases self confidence. My initial reasoning has to do with the idea that in our culture/society, money equates with power and since power offers a sense of security, those who possess would be more emotionally stoic. In terms of the reduced sensitivity to pain, I would think this is unreasonable assumption to make and I was surprised that the research proved this true.

In one test of the correlation between money and physical pain, subjects had to, "count out a stack of $100 dollar bills and then immerse their hands in hot water (109 degrees). Those who handled the money reported less pain than those who handled slips of blank paper." I would be interested to know more about this experiment. My assumption is that while counting money right before putting their hands in hot water might not have caused them pain because perhaps they were still feeling the effects of the endorphins/joy from the money counting/security experience, that maybe these subjects felt pain shortly after, when the reality of the situation had set in. I guess this sort of experimentation plays into the idea of "mind over matter", which inspires me to think and wonder about the extent of the influence and power of our thoughts and psychology. How much of our mental attitude affects what we feel and how we perceive and experience the world?

Personally, I can agree with the money dulling emotional pain aspect but not so much the physical aspect. I believe that we are in control of our emotions to a great extent and therefore the security one may feel from handling money is reasonable, but physical pain involves chemical and electric messages from an external stimulus whose effects I would assume would not be able to be altered merely from the comfort of handling money. In my experience with wealthy people who seem happy, the happiness seems to be superficial and fleeting and therefore I would not consider this happiness to actually be real. The object of money I believe can provide happiness and security through providing material goods that people enjoy and like to have but I do not believe money can really provide lasting happiness.

And a side note... I thought this quote was funny from the writer: "I don’t know about the pain part. Money can certainly buy some good prescription pain killers."

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