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Handling Money Brings Pain Relief
Psychologists at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management have found that handling money can alleviate both physical and emotional pain. In one experiment, test subjects were found to feel less pain when their hands were dipped into scalding water after counting money. Lead author Kathleen Vohs said, "When people are reminded of money in a subtle manner by counting out hard currency, they experience painful situations as being not very painful. You could think about being able to charge yourself up before you encounter pain. When I used to run marathons, I would've maybe wanted to be reminded of money first."
Maybe it's all the cocaine the bills have absorbed over time!
to dip their hand in scalding water?
Maybe not just handling, but recieving huge sums of money will alliviate pain.
Psychologists at the University of Minnesota's Carleton *School of Management*
Does anyone else see the correlation? Their sample group was entirely MBA-types.
There's a 68.71% chance you're right.
next time I cheat my girlfriend
I would pay a professional lady with hard currency
so that when I face my girlfriend
I will be relieved from emotional pain
The world belongs to those who get up early. - I'm far from being the king of Earth then
Who was running this experiment, Dr. Mengele?
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
Let me fondle my pay in cash each morning and pay me daily. I can sprinkle (lightly) the cash on my bed and sleep naked for maximum effect. Would the shredded money from from the federal reserve have the same effect?
When I was young, I had to rub sticks together to compute.
It seems you have a problem with Jews.
Apparently money really can buy happiness?
Life, the Universe, and Everything... in my image.
but is it enough relief to overcome having to then hand said cash over in exchange for [overpriced product]
I guess we have an Ig Nobel Prize candidate here..
Don't see why it wouldn't have other medicinal uses. An injection for simple pain would probably run significantly less than $180,000 too.
Or moderate exercise and being given a task distracts from pain?
Walk it off!
I guess all these rappers are onto something.
Now try it with Monopoly money.
I'd like to see this applied to an indigenous tribe somewhere, where they have no concept of leafy greenbacks and portraits of authoritarian figures.
Perceived pleasures vs. applied pain and the corresponding sensory receptors is nothing new. Reference some of the more physically detailed acts of sex as an ongoing clinical trial.
... the pain sets in.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Barf: I know we need the money, but...
Lone Starr: Listen! We're not just doing this for money!
Barf: [Barf looks at him, raises his ears]
Lone Starr: We're doing it for a S**T LOAD of money!
Program Intellivision!
...hand him a tenner?
> When I used to run marathons, I would've maybe wanted to be reminded of
> money first.
But that would've reduced the pain! What runner would want that? Isn't pain what it's all about?
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
I didn't RTFA but did they have them count anything else to eliminate the counting as a pain reliever?
I regularly count to 10 after reading slashdot...
> Would the shredded money from from the federal reserve have the same effect?
Buy it, stuff matresses with it, and sell them via Sharper Image.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
I am pretty sure those psychologists are women!
Perhaps it's similar to how making someone smile affects the person who smiles?
Of course, that would be kinda sad if money has gotten so all-important to people's emotional and mental well-being.
That's part sarcasm and part observation about how our very materialistic society has changed our core values to create such a situation where one has to recognize the "importance" of money at least in order to survive in this society...
StarTrekPhase2 - The Five Year Mission Continues!
It's like the "Simpsons Did It!", except with South Park.
tl;dr - According to South Park, the cure for AIDS is money.
"it's *EXACTLY* the alternative explanation I thought"
I couldn't think of an explanation, so I decided to try it on my wife.
Before I had her call the gas company to see where we're at (we're still catching up from a cold winter) I handed her a stack of twenties she didn't know I had (pimpin' ain't easy) and had her count them out.
She was confused but obliged. After she was done I took the money from her hands and asked her to call. She asked what was up with the money. I explained the experiment and she said "OH I thought you were giving me the money, it's not going to help now!"
That brings up a good point and the article is light on details so I have to ask: is it possible any of the participates were lead to believe they would be receiving all or a portion of the money they were counting out? Were they told upfront "You will not receive any of this money as part of this experiment"? And even if they were told, did anyone still think it was a possibility? I'm damn sure if you handed me 80 $100 bills and told me "We're doing an experiment, please count out this money" and said nothing else I would have a smile on my face until I was told to leave the research lab empty-handed.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
We already know that expensive placebo can bring pain relief. Now we can completely eliminate the pill, save all the expenses related to drug development testing and production. All we need to do is charge people more for nothing and they will feel better. Isn't this a perfect business plan.
When i learned that my dad was sick from throat cancer .. I was so down that i actually bought a nice 42 inch acl TV. Im such a impulsive buyer haha
Who in the hell signs up for a study where they receive second-degree burns on their hands?
Observe the following Young Jeezy Lyrics:
I used to get bored, count 20's for practice
Paper therapy, we let the money relax us
music lover since 1969
They didn't prove anything, just that they can burn hands and that the people selected for the study feel better when handling currency. To prove that handling money in of itself brings pain relief, they need a control group that has no concept of what the money symbolizes. I mean, we can say it's the money - but isn't it -really- the concept of what the money means to the person that brings about pain relief? What kind of pain relief are we talking about here - are we talking endorphines to alter the perception of the pain like in childbirth or are we talking pain relief coming from accelerated healing?
Since the questions aren't really answered, it's an interesting 'stupid MBA student' trick with a brief flirtation of science. A+ for headline, F for scientific method.
pedantic = on
It's the 'Carlson School of Management', not Carleton.
- oZ
// i am here.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
No, it looks more like paragraph tags.
When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
When I was a kid I remember watching Richie Rich, including swimming in and counting money, seems he knew what he was doing :)
It is not readily absorbed through the skin, which is why it was only used as a topical anesthetic of the mucus membranes such as the mouth, eyes, and ears. It is also not powerful enough that the trace amounts in money could have any effect.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Does handling counterfeit money have a placebo effect?
you could easily do a study showing 100% of paper currency is radioactive! OMG!
there's always a stray radioactive isotope somewhere. its the basis for carbon dating. this "drugs are on money!" hysteria is laughable
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I got my very worst headaches when I worked as a retail clerk and handled hundreds of dollars every day. My fellow retail clerks also suffered frequent headaches.
given how many people go out and buy something when they're down.
:)
Women supposedly do it so often it became a sitcom meme ages ago.
Still, doing a study on it might have some merit. Now those scientists at least have some idea what's up when their women go on a shopping spree
Truth arises more readily from error than from confusion. -Francis Bacon
Ok I don't think of myself as a hippie, but I do hate the establishment. Counting my own money sometimes made me feel a little sick. Not in "I should be making more" sick but just money disgusts me because it reminds me how we are trapped in a commercial society where nothing is free and everything has a price, even if the government has to intervene to give it a price.
I stumbled upon a video about this yesterday.
All I needed to know about the Carlson School of Management I learned from Urbandictionary (third definition)
Apparently money really can buy happiness?
Another way to spin it would be to say that preoccupation with money can lead one to overlook painful consequences.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
As with any repetetive task person enters the trance. Nothing new here: count bills, sheep, whatever.
- Arwen, I'm your father, Agent Smith.
- Well, you're just Smith, but my father is Aerosmith!
About a year ago, I found my mother's body. I'll spare you the details, but the experience was traumatic and I've been rather severely depressed since then. I was no singing nightengale before but the last year has been excruciating.
One small thing I've done to make me feel better is that I now carry around a substantial roll of cash. I'm far from well-to-do but, nevertheless, I've started carrying much more cash than ever before. It's more than just for convenience. I think everyone knows that there are plenty of aggravations in life that can be cured by throwing a few $100 bills at the problem. More than that, though, I seem to derive some needed comfort from the sure knowledge that there are few of life's little problems that can cause me much pain in the short term. Car/water heater/front lawn gas light/air conditioning breaks down? Tree suddenly dies in the front yard? No problem. Each of those things has happened in the last year and I haven't had to stress over it for more than a few minutes until I could put a few bills in the hands of the workman who would solve the problem. Can't park in time to get to an appointment? No problem, just valet it. Feel like treating myself to a nice meal when I'm driving by and see the sign for Ruth's Chris? No problem, just swing on in.
I could go on and on.
Yes, I know that a credit card or check could do most of these tasks. But there's a sense of immediacy with the cash. I don't have to show ID. I don't have to enter something in my check register. Just peel off a couple of pieces of paper and forget about the problem.
Thus, from my personal experience, the notion of having some money in hand as a stress/pain reliever is valid. YMMV.