Study: Feeling Left Out Makes People Take Financial Risks

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SavySallySupersedes
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Study: Feeling Left Out Makes People Take Financial Risks

Post by SavySallySupersedes »

Problem: Popularity and money are two of the main ways we satisfy ourselves. And while friends come and go, a bathtub full of money is forever. So when people are excluded socially, we often turn to money, spending it in strategic ways to become included, stressing about spending, and becoming generally miserly, perhaps thinking of the coins as treasured friends.

Methodology: Fifty-nine University of Hong Kong undergrads participated in an online ball-throwing exercise designed to make them feel either included or excluded, then were asked to choose between two lottery options: one with an 80 percent chance of winning $200 and one with a 20 percent chance of winning $800.

Results: Even accounting for self-esteem issues and sadness, participants who felt excluded tended to favor the risky bet. The researchers also interviewed people around Hong Kong, asking them to choose between the same two bets, and then self-assess how often they gambled and bet on horse races, how risky their investments were and how often they felt socially excluded. The interview yielded much the same results.

Implications: “In absence of social support, forlorn consumers begin to acutely seek and value money as an alternative means to secure what they want out of the social system,” the study reads. Or, lonely people do crazy things for love and money. Let’s all be nice to our friends, so they’ll have sound financial futures.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi ... ks/278317/


Wow. I'm not totally surprised, but it makes a lot of sense. To forge and invest in long-lasting friendships is far more important than achieving monetary success. How do I know this? Ask someone who's dying what they regret most: they will most likely say: "I wish I hadn't worked so hard. I wish I had spent more time with my family. I wish I could have my loved ones how much they meant to me." :tocry:
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