Handling Money Can Alleviate Pain

[PhiLandShiR 18]

A possible explanation could be that all US currency is coated with cocaine....

http://www.gnn.com/article/handling-money-can-alleviate-pain/989212

(April 16) -- Money might not buy happiness, but it can help alleviate some of our suffering, according to researchers who want medical facilities to consider cash as a way to help patients feel better.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota recruited college students for what the students thought was a test of hand-eye coordination. Some were asked to count stacks of money, while others did the same thing with blank sheets of paper.

By describing the test as one of manual dexterity, the team ensured that money-counting students wouldn't anticipate keeping the cash.

Even though the money wasn't up for grabs, the group counting it experienced long-lasting soothing effects. When the members' hands were placed in cups of very hot water, they rated the experience as merely unpleasant, whereas those counting blank sheets found the same water unbearable.

Students were also able to cope with emotional distress more easily after exposure to money. During a virtual competition where players had the option to reject one another, their brain responses to that rejection were less intense than the reactions of the control group.

The benefits of exposure to money lasted around 20 minutes for most participants.

"In both of those experiments, we found that when people were reminded of money, otherwise painful events were not so painful," Kathleen Vohs, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota and lead author of the study, said in a statement. "It's a robust and very strong finding."

As a marketing expert, Vohs sees the potential for a link between money and happiness as an aid for business owners. Rather than offering a voucher when something goes awry, she suggests, businesses should hand over the real deal to assuage upset customers.

"My research would say that they would feel better -- they would feel less pain -- if they were handed cold, hard cash as opposed to ... a voucher," she said.

Vohs also has been sharing the findings with medical professionals, in hopes that they too might apply the idea to help manage their patients' physical pain and psychological distress.

On a day-to-day basis, Vohs suggests, people might be wise to bolster themselves with a hit of cash, whether touching it or ogling a dollar-bill screen saver, before enduring a tense conversation or a grueling workout.

"You could think about being able to charge yourself up before you encounter pain," she told Discovery News. "When I used to run marathons, I would've maybe wanted to be reminded of money first."

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Handling money is nice. But money isn't the only thing I love to 'handle'....

[dakay ♥ 10]

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.

Handling money is nice. But money isn't the only thing I love to 'handle'....

[Peikko 1,575]

I read about this some time back and the cocaine angle never occurred to me at that time, but I think you are on to something

Edited April 22, 2010 by Madame Cleo

[mawilson 2,133]

I read about this some time back and the cocaine angle never occurred to me at that time, but I think you are on to something

My first thought was "cocaine" too.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

lol, I didn't even read the article and the title made me think "Cocaine" as well

[Peikko 1,575]

Clearly I'm not very au fait with the drug world or its cultural symbolism