It’s All About the Money, Money, Money
Understanding why money runs the world and incentivizes people to crave more and more, creating this “psychology of greed” within society. This post is in response to the prep work assigned by the science of greed educator, Bobaroo.
After watching the Money Suit Social Experiment video, the TED Talk on the “Science of Greed”, and reading the article embedded in the prep work for the lesson, there were some interesting observations that stood out to me as some of these experiments were conducted. Before, I share my observations with you, I should give you a brief blurb of what the videos and article were about. The “Money Suit Social Experiment” video reveals the actions taken by individuals in New York in reaction to seeing a man wearing a money suit and carrying a sign saying “Take What You Need”. The TED Talk focused on a series of social experiments conducted between two subjects where they played a rigged game of Monopoly and discussed how the pursuit of self-interest alone can be a bad thing. The article discusses how we, especially focusing on students, and our actions are governed by money because the things we need to be happy often costs money such as a college education.
Observations
- Many business-savvy individuals/people in suits and business attire tended to take more than one dollar from the man. One woman took so many dollar bills to pay for her beauty-related (Money Suit Video)
- However, when there was a homeless man, he only took a couple dollars, claiming that’s all he needed to go and get some food. (Money Suit Video)
- It was interesting to see how people had discussed their success in Monopoly through their deeds and strategies rather than other factors that gave them a higher advantage to win. (TED Talk)
- I wasn’t surprised when wealth increase would lead to a decrease in compassion and empathy, especially since that was what inevitably happened in the rigged Monopoly game. (TED Talk)
- I also wasn’t surprised when they senior college student explained how the world is run by money because it’s true. We need money to buy the things we want and make us “happy”. (Article)
Why did people in the Rigged Monopoly Social Experiment?
Personally, I think the people reacted the way they did because of the thrill that came with having all these privileges. Once you get accustomed to the idea that you have more money, you kind of forget over time what helped you get to where you’re at, and in turn, you may not value the dollar nearly as much because you’re used to always having enough to fulfill your ventures. From there, you get used to grasping opportunities that benefit you or hold merit.
