Counting money can make you feel good

In order to examine the symbolic power of money, U.S. and Chinese researchers conducted a series of tests. They focused on 84 students at Sun Yat-Sen University in China and divided them into two groups.

The first group had to count 80 $100 bills and the other one was given 80 pieces of plain paper to count. Afterwards, the participants were asked to play a videogame, Cyberball, in which they could throw a ball and play catch with other players on the Internet.

But the researchers manipulated the game in such a way that after 10 throws, half the students did not get to catch the thrown balls while the other half continued to play the catch.

At the end of the game, the students who were excluded from the second round of catch, were asked to rate their social level of distress.

It was found that participants who counted money before being excluded from the second round of the game reported lower levels of social distress than their counterparts who just counted the plain paper sheets.

The team also observed that the participants who had counted money also reported greater feelings of self-sufficiency and self-confidence.

Money reduces physical pain
In another test, students were asked to dip their fingers into very hot water – about 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Those who had counted money initially reported less pain than those who counted paper.

Towards the end, half the students were made to write about all the bills they had paid lately and the other half was asked to write on weather.

Being reminded of having spent money and reporting about the same intensified social distress for those students. This suggested that money has the power to change the perceptions of emotions in a negative way.

Symbolic value of money can influence social response
It has been found through this exercise that money does have a strong effect on our emotions. It has the power to make people invulnerable to physical pain and social rejections.

Study leader Prof Kathleen Vohs of Minnesota University said, "These effects speak of the power of money, even as a symbol, to change perceptions of very real feelings such as pain."

Co-researcher of the study, Dr. Roy Baumeister, of Florida State University, said that counting money could help men to approach women. It might also make the men feel stronger and not as bothered about being rejected.

Human behavior expert Prof Harriet de Wit, of Chicago University, a faculty member of science website f1000 Medicine, said that this research shows how acquired symbolic value of money can influence responses to both emotional and physical pain; perhaps because of associations with power or control.

"Money can possibly substitute for social acceptance in conferring the ability to obtain benefits from the social system," the researchers concluded.

They also said that the findings have greater implications for the present social system which is characterized by wide disparities in the financial well being.

The study is published in the journal Psychological Science.