Study Finds Cost to Tying Self-Esteem to Money

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A new study suggests a psychological cost to the pursuit of more money.

Although the pursuit of money is not in and of itself bad, when people tie their self-worth to the pursuit of financial success, they are more vulnerable to negative psychological consequences, according to Dr. Lora Park, an associate professor of psychology at the University at Buffalo and the study’s lead author.

According to the study’s findings, basing self-esteem on financial success led to making more financially-based social comparisons with others, feeling less autonomy and control over one’s life, and experiencing more financial hassles, stress and anxiety. These findings were evident even after accounting for other variables, such as financial status, materialistic values, and importance of financial goals, according to researchers.

“People don’t often think of the possible downsides of wrapping their identity and self-worth around financial pursuits, because our society values wealth as a model of how one should be in the world,” said Park. “It’s important to realize these costs because people are gravitating toward this domain as a source of self-esteem without realizing that it has these unintended consequences.”

For the study, researchers recruited 349 college students and a nationally representative group of 389 participants after developing a scale to measure Financial Contingency of Self-Worth (CSW), or the degree to which people base their self-esteem on financial success.

They then conducted a series of experiments to examine the effects of threatening people’s sense of financial security.

“When we asked people to write about a financial stressor, they experienced a drop in their feelings of autonomy,” Park said. “They also showed more disengagement from their financial problems — they gave up searching for solutions. We didn’t find this in people who didn’t tie their self-esteem to financial success or among those who were asked to write about an academic stressor.”

In the essays, researchers also coded the type of language participants used to describe their financial problems.

“We found that people who highly based their self-worth on financial success used more negative emotion-related words, like sadness and anger,” Park said. “This demonstrates that just thinking about a financial problem generates a lot of stress and negative emotions for these individuals.”

But this effect is eliminated if you get people to self-affirm by giving them an opportunity to think about their personal strengths, according to Park.

“This suggests that self-esteem concerns emerge when people are thinking about financial problems, but if you can repair their self-esteem by having them think about their strengths, then there is no reduction in feelings of autonomy,” she said.

A final study found that people who based their self-esteem on financial success — and were led to believe that they would experience financial instability in their future — became more cautious when it came to extravagant spending decisions. This could be interpreted as a desire to protect their self-esteem following this financial threat,  Park suggested.

The study was published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Source: University at Buffalo

 
Photo: Credit: University at Buffalo.

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April 29, 2017 at 01:55AM

Global Data Suggests Food Insecurity Can Impact Mental Health

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A new study has found that food insecurity is linked to poorer mental health and specific psychosocial stressors.

The new study finds that food insecurity (FI) — which affects nearly 795 million people worldwide — may be a key contributor to common mental disorders through several different mechanisms.

First, by generating uncertainty over the ability to maintain food supplies or to acquire sufficient food in the future, FI can provoke a stress response that may contribute to anxiety and depression. And getting food in socially unacceptable ways can induce feelings of alienation, powerlessness, shame, and guilt that are associated with depression.

FI may also magnify socioeconomic disparities within households and communities that could increase cultural sensitivities and influence overall mental well-being.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food insecurity means that a household’s economic and social conditions make access to adequate food limited or uncertain — and can lead to hunger.

The study was conducted by Andrew D. Jones, Ph.D., of the Department of Nutritional Sciences in the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan. He used data from the 2014 Gallup World Poll (GWP). FI data were available for 147,826 individuals across 11 world regions encompassing 149 countries. The extent of FI ranged from 18.3 percent in East Asia to 76.1 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the data.

Mental health status was determined using the Negative Experience Index (NEI) and the Positive Experience Index (PEI), two five-question surveys that examine topics such as pain, sadness, enjoyment, feelings of respect, and other factors. Data for the mental health indices were available for 152,696 individuals, Jones noted.

The PEI was highest in Latin America and the Caribbean region (79.4) and lowest in Russia and the Caucasus (59.2), while the NEI was lowest in Central Asia (17.4) and highest in the Middle East and North Africa region (34.9).

Jones found that FI was associated with poorer mental health status in a dose-response fashion, comparing NEI vs. FI for multiple age ranges. An inverse effect was found for PEI vs. FI data.

The consistent dose-response trend suggests a causal association between FI and mental health status, according to Jones.

“This trend suggests that the psychosocial stressors that underlie the mental health indices examined may be amplified with increasing FI,” he said. “For example, anxiety related to one’s ability to acquire sufficient food in the future may be provoked even under conditions of mild FI, and is likely to increase with moderate and severe FI. Alternatively, multiple pathways from FI to poorer mental health may be invoked with increasing severity of FI.

“Under conditions of more severe FI, for example, individuals may resort to acquiring food in socially unacceptable ways as a coping strategy. The feelings of shame and guilt associated with this behavior could compound pre-existing anxiety precipitated by mild FI to yield even poorer mental health conditions.”

Jones acknowledges the possibility that the direction of the association between FI and mental health status could be the reverse — that poor mental health could drive FI.

He notes, however, that this is the first study to carry out a global analysis of this association and so further research is needed.

“Developing robust monitoring systems and strengthening the measurement of both FI and mental health to more comprehensively understand their relation across contexts may help to inform interventions that can effectively address the mental health consequences of FI,” he concluded.

The study was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 

Source: Elsevier

 
Photo: These are adjusted mean values of the Negative Experience Index by level of food insecurity for distinct mean ages. Credit: American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

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April 29, 2017 at 01:05AM

Is There a Poem that Constantly Runs Through Your Head?

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April is National Poetry Month.

I don’t read much poetry these days; usually, when I do, it’s because a book that I’m reading includes a quote from a poem, and that makes me interested enough to look it up.

I found one of my favorite poems that way. I was reading Marjorie Williams’s wonderful collection of essays, The Woman at the Washington Zoo, and that led me to read Randall Jarrell’s brilliant, haunting poem of that name. Read it here.

When I was researching my book Forty Ways to Look at JFK, I came across the fact that at Jackie Kennedy’s funeral, Constantine Cavafy’s Ithaka was read at her funeral. Beautiful.

Or a poem is called to my attention in another way. The other day, I was walking with a friend, and she pulled up a poem on her phone and said, “Reading this has been a huge epiphany for me.” I see why! That last line! Read Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Archaic Torso of Apollo.”

I’m obsessed with the subject of color right now, and it’s clear that the patron poet of color is Wallace Stevens –“The Man with the Blue Guitar,” to take just one example. (In my obsession, I’m truly hunting down any color-related material I can find.)

In middle school, I had to memorize a lot of poems, and I can still recite them.  Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ozymandias,” Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky.” I will recite them in my head if I’m feeling anxious in a dentist’s chair.

Do you read poetry, or do you have a poem that sticks in your mind for some reason?

You know what I was, you see what I am: change me, change me!

 

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April 28, 2017 at 11:14PM

Scientists Are Teaching Robots to Laugh

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When robot Nao laughs, he does so with his whole body: slapping his knees, shaking his head. But the adorable android, made by SoftBank Robotics, is not merely good at expressing mirth; he can correctly identify as much as 65 percent of happy laughter outbursts in humans, according to a study presented in 2015 at a nonverbal language workshop in the Netherlands. Once robots like Nao master human laughter, they will make far more likable and realistic companions.

Nao's creators and other scientists are studying the minutiae of human laughter—acoustics, breath, body movements and vibrations—to translate them into algorithms that robots and avatars can learn. And that includes learning how to be funny. In 2016 researchers in South Korea and Singapore showed that Nao is already quite good at telling jokes. When he did a stand-up routine alongside an experienced actor, his taped performance was later consistently rated just half a point below the human on a scale of 1 to 7. Moreover, people were less disgusted by disparaging jokes if the robot told them. Nao “exceeded my expectations,” says Taezoon Park, an industrial engineer then at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University and the study's lead author. Park says that in the future, scientists will optimize the robot's tone of voice, facial expressions and subtle gestures to fine-tune his comedy.

Robots still have a long way to go to fully understand human laughter, which can signify anything from happiness and amusement to sexual interest, embarrassment or anger. Also baffling to machines is the fact that laughter can vary: there is the classic ha-ha-ha laughter, speech laughter (when you speak while laughing) and smile speech (talking while smiling). Distinguishing among these types will be vital for better human-robot interactions. “Because laughter is such a crucial part of what it means to be human, we won't have convincing artificial intelligence until our machines can laugh along with us,” says Gary McKeown, a psychologist at Queen's University Belfast who also works with Nao but was not involved with the new research.

Further, for robots to laugh convincingly with humans, they must be able to tell when a person wants such an interaction. “The inviting laugh is longer and louder and has a higher pitch than an isolated laugh,” says Khiet Truong, a computer scientist at the University of Twente in the Netherlands who studies how people interact with virtual agents and robots. “Humans respond to an inviting laugh within half a second on average,” Truong says. “We hypothesize that robots should do the same—otherwise it is no longer natural.”

If these efforts succeed, we may soon have humorous robots and avatars that can assist the elderly, cheer up hospital patients, play with kids and help keep us amused.

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April 29, 2017 at 12:11AM

Testosterone Linked to Snap Judgments, Less Reflection

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A new study found that men given doses of testosterone were more likely to rely on snap judgments during a brain-teaser test rather than rely on cognitive reflection; that is, stopping to consider whether their gut reaction to something is correct.

“What we found was the testosterone group was quicker to make snap judgments on brain teasers where your initial guess is usually wrong,” said Dr. Colin Camerer, the Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Economics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

“The testosterone is either inhibiting the process of mentally checking your work or increasing the intuitive feeling that ‘I’m definitely right.'”

The study involved 243 males who were randomly selected to receive a dose of testosterone gel or placebo gel before taking a cognitive reflection test. A math task was also given to control for participant engagement, motivation level, and basic math skills.

The questions included on the cognitive reflection test were similar to the following: A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

For many people, the first answer that comes to mind is that the ball costs 10 cents, but that answer is incorrect because then the bat would cost only 90 cents more than the ball. The correct answer is that the ball costs 5 cents and the bat costs $1.05.

A person prone to relying on their gut instincts would be more likely to accept their first answer of 10 cents. However, another person might realize their initial mistake through cognitive reflection and come up with the correct answer.

Participants were given as much time as they needed to complete the questions and were offered $1 for each correct answer and an additional $2 if they answered all the questions correctly.

The results show that the group that received testosterone scored significantly lower than the group that received the placebo, on average answering 20 percent fewer questions correctly.

The men given testosterone also “gave incorrect answers more quickly, and correct answers more slowly than the placebo group,” the authors write. The same effect was not seen in the results of the basic math tests administered to both groups.

The researchers believe that this phenomenon can be linked to testosterone’s effect of increasing confidence in humans. Testosterone is thought to generally enhance the male drive for social status, and recent studies have shown that confidence enhances status.

“We think it works through confidence enhancement. If you’re more confident, you’ll feel like you’re right and will not have enough self-doubt to correct mistakes,” Camerer says.

Camerer says the new findings raise questions about the potential pitfalls of the growing testosterone-replacement therapy industry, which mainly targets the declining sex drive experienced by many middle-aged men.

“If men want more testosterone to increase sex drive, are there other effects? Do these men become too mentally bold and thinking they know things they don’t?”

The study was conducted by researchers from Caltech, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Western University of Health Sciences and ZRT Laboratory in Oregon, and is published in the journal Psychological Science.

Source: California Institute of Technology

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April 29, 2017 at 12:09AM

Psychology Around the Net: April 29, 2017

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Happy Saturday, sweet readers!

Regardless of which day you read this, chances are I’m trying (or have succeeded for that day) to get some exercise in. I made an appointment with my doctor last week to find out why I’ve been so, so exhausted lately. Any mental health concerns were ruled out, and my blood test results were top notch (as usual — go me!). So, she asked me about my exercise routine and, well…let’s just say my answer wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

Most of us know exercise is great for our mental health (and we should all know it’s key to physical health!), but did you know exercise can also help with fatigue and exhaustion? I did, but I suppose I was in denial. Oops.

Anyway, while I get my act together, enjoy this week’s edition which covers exercise as a way to help keep older folks’ brains sharp, how one artist uses sketches to illustrate her schizophrenia symptoms, the type of personality disorder that might be linked to certain types of social media use, and more.

Exercise ‘Keeps the Mind Sharp’ in Over-50s, Study Finds: Using a variety of brain tests, researchers saw evidence that aerobic exercises can help improve cognitive functions like thinking, learning, reasoning, and reading, and that muscle training exercises can help with memory and “executive functions” such as the ability to plan and organize.

These Illustrations Show What It’s Like to Live with Schizophrenia: After years of being diagnosed with various mental health conditions, 18-year-old artist Kate Fenner was finally diagnosed with schizophrenia and has used her talent to create art that represents her schizophrenia symptoms including hallucinations and how her condition sometimes robs her of self-esteem. Fenner hopes her honesty will help people understand Hollywood’s stereotypes are inaccurate (and often promote stigma) and also help others feel more comfortable talking about their mental illness.

How to Keep Your Energy Up When You’re Totally Stressed Out: Stress can zap both your physical and mental energy levels, but if you learn how to practice and prioritize, you can get those levels up and balanced.

Tanning Addiction May Be Linked to Alcohol Dependency, Mental Health Issues: A recent study from the Yale School of Public Health (funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Society, and a grant from the American Cancer Society) examined a possible link between “tanning addiction” and people with other addictions and/other other mental health conditions. People with a psychological and physical dependence on tanning often also show other dependent behaviors and mental/emotional problems such as depression, exercise addiction, and alcoholism.

Gender Differences in Depression Appear at Age 12: A new study analysis based on findings from existing studying covering approximately 3.5 million people in 90 countries confirmed that depression affects more females than males. These gender differences relate to both symptoms and diagnoses and focus on depression appearing at 12 years old.

Having Lots of Facebook Friends and Instagram Photos Could Be a Sign of This Personality Disorder: That’s right, more studies on social media and mental health. Past research has already linked social media to depression and low-self esteem, but now a new study has found a “weak to moderate” link between social media use (especially people who have many social media friends and many uploaded photos) and grandiose narcissism (grandiose narcissism is the type associated with a superiority complex).

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April 28, 2017 at 11:33PM

Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb

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