Hughes

Logan Hughes

Malcolm Campbell

English 1103

March 30th, 2015

Does money affect a persons emotional stability?


A survey conducted by the Pew Research Centre of Washington, DC in 2007
on 43 countries reported that 57% of individuals who are in rich countries
considered themselves happy, while only 16% of people in poor countries felt the
same way about their situation (A.C.M., J.P., J.S.). These staggering numbers bring up
a question that has more than likely crossed everyones mind, Does the amount of
money a person makes or attains affect their overall happiness?
Money is something that everyone comes in contact with on a daily basis,
whether you are a small child wanting to buy a gumball out of the machine for 25
cents, a college student having to get a job for the first time in order to pay for
his/her college tuition, or a husband and wife who are looking at buying a new
house in order to build a family. Many people even build their lives and choose their
majors around the amount of money they think would make them comfortable in
the future, but is this really the key for happiness?

Looking on the opposite side of the emotional spectrum, money has been

proven to bring stress, affect relationships, and cause clinical depression in millions
of Americans. In an article presented by Duke University earlier this year, they
provided a national survey that gave insight into how money negatively affects
individuals. In the survey it can be shown that most people are emotionally

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challenged and stressed because of their financial situation and when stressed it
starts to affect things as important as marriage and family relationships (Duke
University). Jeffrey Dew, who conducted a study at Utah State University on
Finances and Divorce Rates, claims that couples that argue over their finances less
than once a month are 30-40 percent more likely to get a divorce compared to the
couple who rarely ever argue over financial problems. Whereas people who tend to
fight about money more than once a month, once a week, or daily increase their
chance of divorce by a staggering 125-160 percent chance (Dew). It is astounding
that material objects such as a piece of currency can infiltrate into one of the most
sacred and emotionally promising events in an individuals life, marriage.
These types of events caused by a lack of financial stability have been seen
since 1929 when the Great Depression hit America. During this time period in
history one wouldnt be able to see how this lack of economical stability affected
marriages in America because even though husbands left their wives they wouldnt
get a divorce because it cost too much money. For example, while husbands were at
war they would abandon their families and wives in order to get out of a marriage
and then when they came back from war this is when the divorce rates started
rising exponentially. Looking at relationships during peoples financial droughts is
one way to see how money affects people; however, an even bigger issue that can
support the argument that money does affect happiness is depression.

Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and

loss of interest in various aspects of a persons life. One of the leading causes of
depression around the world is a loss of money or a general lack of money. When

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people find themselves in financial distress they generally start feeling depressed
and at a loss for what they should be doing in their life. The movie Its a Wonderful
Life, highlights this when George Baily (main character) becomes so stressed about
money that he contemplates suicide in order to provide more money for his family
(IMDb). This may seem like a far-fetched idea, but in todays world where gaining
more money is the focal point of millions of peoples lives, this thought surely has
raced through peoples minds. The BBC released an article in 2011 describing how
the financial worries during the 2008 recession had changed trends in suicide rates:
from 2007 to 2009the increase varied between 5% and 17% for people aged
under 65 years old after a period of falling suicide rates, according to The Lancet
(Triggle). These types of increases in suicide rates on a global level during an
economic downturn are something that shouldnt be overlooked and really show
that people are turning to the worst possible option in order to escape money
issues. In the same article, the BBC reported that, Prescription for drugs such as
Prozac rose by more than 40% over the past four years with GPs (general
practitioners) saying more and more people were coming to them with money
troubles (Triggle). Unfortunately, even doctors are seeing the side effects to an
economy that is struggling and people who are more money hungry than ever.
Suicide, even with these troubling numbers, may be something many people
overlook, but when trying to determine the answer to the question presented in this
piece, it is a vital issue.

Other professionals are taking a different form of stance on this issue such as

Jennifer Lerner, who is a social psychologist at Harvard University who specializes

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in how emotions effect our financial decisions (Levin). In her podcast interview with
David Levin she talks about how peoples spending habits are directly correlated
with what emotion or time period a person is going through. She goes on to say that
the traditional economic theory says that people think rationally when making
decisions, however when it comes to making money decisions this is very rarely the
case. When people are sad or depressed they tend to lash out by making poor
decisions and spending money they dont necessarily have in order to make them
feel better (Levin). This type of outlook on the question is something different that is
similar to research presented earlier, but is very different in the fact Jennifer Lerner
is saying that peoples emotions are what is causing them to make poor financial
decisions instead of saying that poor financial decisions are what causes peoples
emotions. Either way one wants to view the issue it would seem, from the research,
that it is an ongoing cycle effect. Once a person is in financial hardships they begin
making irrational financial decisions that end up contributing to their bad emotions
that continue to make more and more financial problems.

Emotions not only play into your financial life when you are a in a lower

social class but also when you consider yourself in the top tier social class. Case in
point, children who are born into a lower social class generally hope to achieve a
higher social class in their own life. Once these children enter a social class it
becomes very hard to sympathize with the previous social class they considered
themselves accustomed to. This is apparent in the novel Great Expectations by
Charles Dickens. During the book, the main character, Pip starts his life off in a harsh
situation living as an orphan child with his sister and her husband in a household

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that is small and embarrassing. As the book continues, Pip gains a very pricey
fortune and is sent off to London in order to mingle and become something that fit
his recently received money. When he returns home he begins by talking about his
sisters husband, I wish Joe would have been rather more genteelly brought up,
and then I should have been so too. (Dickens) It can be seen in the novel that
peoples views of even their own family and upbringing can be shifted with a little
more money in their pocket. Money changes lifestyles, opportunities, living
situations, and peoples social circles to the point where they lose themselves and
are more interested in the next thing they are going to buy.

Money affecting peoples emotions can even be proven on a scientific level. A

peer-reviewed journal article by various writers and doctors called Cognition and
Emotions, explains how the body reacts to punishments and rewards differently.
When humans have positive emotions dopamine is released into their system, which
improves decision-making and memory (Carpenter, Isen, Peters, Stephanie,
Vstfjll). This can be related to money because usually when an individual is
rewarded by gaining some form of money they tend to become happier which helps
improve things like decision-making. The opposite can be said of people who are
depressed from the punishment that a significant loss of money can bring. When
people lose money they tend to lash out and make poor decisions that start to affect
their emotional state (Carpenter, Isen, Peters, Stephanie, Vstfjll). When one starts
making a series of bad decisions they may fall into depression and have serious
anxiety. Biologically the body has no choice but to react to receiving and having
money taken away from them.

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On the other hand, for one to be able to make a full decision on what they

feel is right or wrong they would have to hear both sides of the argument. In the
newspaper article Happinomics by Northeastern Universitys Angela Herring; she
spoke with Michael Norton from Harvard Business School, Robert Frank who is an
economic professor at Cornell University, and psychology professor Daniel Gilbert
from Harvard, on how America is one of the most depressed all around countries in
the world, and at the same time it is one of the richest. These professors talk about
how having more money only brings more troubles and stress because it brings
more responsibilities and management (Herring). In the international system the
United States ranks number one in total over all gross domestic product over every
other country in the world. GDP is a political model that shows how much money a
country is making over a certain period of time, usually a year. However, that being
said, the U.S. doesnt even rank in the top tier of countries for overall happiness; the
leader in this category is Denmark who only ranks 34th in overall GDP. The
professors are saying is that the U.S., even though we are considered a wealthy
country, we are not happy as a whole because we put our focus into the wrong thing.
When a person has more money than they know what to do with it adds a serious
amount of stress. Even in a model and article that seems to be arguing against the
fact that money and happiness dont really have a connection, it still helps the
argument that money does affect a persons emotional stability and actions.
Through the research it is evidently clear that money and emotions collide
every time they come in contact with one another. If you have no money you want
some form of money and if you have a lot of money you want even more money that

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brings more and more stresses in a persons life. Does money bring happiness? The
answer is more complicated than people think. Yes, money makes a person happy,
but only for a short amount of time before the urge to want more hits them and they
are immediately unsatisfied with what they have. It is the sad truth in a capitalistic
world that brainwashes people into thinking something is never enough. People
always want what is bigger and better, if cars are what a person wants then they will
always try and get the next fastest and sexiest car they can find, if it is money they
may have a million dollars but they will want five million, and if they have five
million they will want ten. The capitalistic way our government is set up has proven
to be a good way to run a world that is chaotic and hard to process but people get
lost on what is really important in life and care more about quantity rather than
quality in life (Power). Americans as a whole are the perfect example to how money
can corrupt individuals, families, businesses, friendships, and the country as a
whole. Some people believe that giving away money is a sin, and taking money is
always certain and when people in a capitalistic country such as Americas favorite
line is money may not bring happiness, but having no money surely brings
problems, there is an evident flaw in the system. Is it something someone can fix?
Probably not. The nation and world are too far gone into their ways and at this point
these morals on money are all people really know. Some kids are raised up to not
help others but help themselves. Unfortunately for them, it is impossible to escape
the hardships money brings to them but everything in their lives leads them into
that direction. Their parents want them to do better than them, schools urge them
for the better grade and not to process information in order to get into a good

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college, colleges want you to make the better grade in order to go to a graduate
school, the whole point of graduate school is to come out with a higher degree in
order to gain more money than the kid living next door to him/her when they were
only small helpless kids. It is no single persons fault for having this mindset but
rather what we, as people, have always known. It is good to have money and it gets a
person a lot of things they wouldnt normally be receiving. But people have to
realize that money is only a small piece of green paper in the grand scheme of life.
People need to take a step back and look at the facts and do the research into the
psychology of money and finances in order to realize that what is corrupting them
and their emotions are not the people around them always, but instead what is in
their wallets and what is in their bank accounts.

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Works Cited

A.C.M, J.P., and J.S. "Money and Happiness." The Economist. The Economist. 30 Oct.
2013. Web. m17 Mar. 2015.

Blackman, Andrew. "Can Money Buy You Happiness?" WSJ. Wall Street Journal, 10
Nov. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.

Carpenter, Stephanie, Ellen Peters, Daniel Vstfjll, and Alice Isen. "Positive Feelings
Facilitate Processing." Cognition & Emotion (n.d.): n. pag. Psychology Press.
Psychology Press. Web. 06 Mar. 2015.

Goodrich, Francis, Albert Hackett, and Frank Capra. "It's a Wonderful Life." IMDb.
IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.

Herring, Angela. "'Happinomics': The Science of Money and Emotion." News
Northeastern. Northeastern University, 14 May 2012. Web. 06 Mar. 2015.

Levin, David, and Jennifer Lerner. "The Deciding Factor." NOVA. PBS. 01 Mar. 2010.
Web. 07 Mar. 2015.

"Money And Emotional Reactions." Duke Personal Assistance Service. Duke
University, n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2015

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Powers, Nina. Happiness Has Been Consumed by Capitalism. The Guardian. The
Guardian, 12 Apr. 2011. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

Triggle, Nick. "Suicide Rates in Europe 'linked' to Financial Crisis." BBC News. BBC
News, 08 July 2011. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.

"U.S. Divorce Rates and Statistics." U.S. Divorce Rates and Statistics - Divorce Source.
N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.