Most of us don ’t have a desire for unlimited wealth

By Emily Reynolds Do humans always want more, or are we sometimes just happy with our lot? This debate has long raged in multiple disciplines: economics, politics, and even philosophy. And whether an unlimited desire for more is inherent or a product of capitalism is equally hotly contested. Paul G. Bain from the University of Bath and Renata Bongiorno from Bath Spa University explore this question in a new paper published in Nature Sustainability. They find that the assumption we always want more, no matter how much we have, may not be completely accurate: while some of us do have unlimited desire for wealth, they are not the majority. The first study included around 2000 participants from both advanced and economically developing countries, including the US, UK, France, South Africa, China, Russia, and Brazil. As part of a larger study, participants were asked to imagine their absolutely ideal life, and to consider how much money they would want in this ideal life. They were then asked whether they wanted to enter one of eight hypothetical lotteries, each with a prize ranging from $10,000 to $100 billion. After this, participants indicated the most important change they would make with the money. The second study recruited nearly 6000 participants from a wider number of countries, including from the Middle East, Africa, Central America, North America, South America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. Participants in this study completed the same measures as in the ...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Money Source Type: blogs