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."

Comments

Cocaine

[Daxx22]

Maybe it's all the cocaine the bills have absorbed over time!

Re:Cocaine

[Marxist Hacker 42]

Glad to see this as first post- it's *EXACTLY* the alternative explanation I thought- especially if the money in question is US currency in any paper format. I've heard cocaine residue can be found on up to 90% of US paper money that has been in circulation for more than a year.

Re:Cocaine

[c 0xFF]

Citation:

http://www.snopes.com/business/money/cocaine.asp

The percentage is probably lower than 90% (33% to 50% in one study, 75% in another, 80% in a fourth, and a staggering 97% in a fifth).

Re:Cocaine

[Daxx22]

Well I posted this as a joke, as I think that while you can find cocaine/drug residue on a large percentage of money in circulation, the actual amount is so low there is no way it could have an actual effect. Kinda like smoking Hemp to get high. You'd die of smoke inhalation before you even got a buzz.

I think it's obvious

[Target Practice]

Psychologists at the University of Minnesota's Carleton *School of Management*

Does anyone else see the correlation? Their sample group was entirely MBA-types.

Re:I think it's obvious

[cgenman]

Summary: Being broke hurts.

Re:I think it's obvious

[chgros]

I'm glad you're so much smarter than those researchers would couldn't possibly know about sampling bias.

applied theory

[Atreide]

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

Re:applied theory

[c 0xFF]

Burma Shave

WTF?

[Itninja]

test subjects were found to feel less pain when their hands were dipped into scalding water after counting money

Who was running this experiment, Dr. Mengele?

Re:WTF?

[Jeng]

Don't feel too bad for the test subjects, they were just future PHB's going after their MBA.

Most probably the person who devised the test was in IT.

Ig Nobel?

[kav2k]

I guess we have an Ig Nobel Prize candidate here..

When you're told you can't keep the money ...

[PolygamousRanchKid]

... the pain sets in.

Spaceballs explains it:

[Mr Z]

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!

Product Idea!

[John Hasler]

> 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.

Like smiling?

[RobertM1968]

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...

South Park Did It!

[JoshDM]

It's like the "Simpsons Did It!", except with South Park.

tl;dr - According to South Park, the cure for AIDS is money.

I tried this experiment

[iamhassi]

"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.

Re:I tried this experiment

[stonewallred]

I am in a great deal of pain due to a screwed up disc. If all the /. readers will send me $20.00 US, cash only, small bills are fine, I will undertake verifying this experiment myself, and will report my findings.

Re:I tried this experiment

[b4dc0d3r]

If someone said they were doing an experiment and handed me wads of cash, I would have one of two conclusions. Either I'm going to hand that money back at some point, or I'm going to rob the guy and take it. It would not make sense for someone to do an experiment where you end up with piles of cash, although it has happened. But it has been so rare that you would consider it an anomaly.

Of course you could read the article where it was explained as a finger dexterity exercise, so no it is not possible.

Among other experiments, she and colleagues challenged college students to a supposed finger-dexterity task in which they counted out either 80 $100 bills or 80 slips of paper. Afterward, the cash-counters reported less pain than the paper-counters when their fingers were dipped briefly into 122-degree Fahrenheit water.

Next time you want me to read something for you, please make an appointment.

Pssht Rappers have know about this for years

[djdavetrouble]

Observe the following Young Jeezy Lyrics:

I used to get bored, count 20's for practice
Paper therapy, we let the money relax us

Cocaine is not that powerful of a drug

[spun]

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.