My first TD. Ever.

Secret colours - Blackhole (2013)

Shining - I won't forget (2013)

Pagan moon - Your swan (2012)

Sivu - Better man than he (2012)

The Broken circle breakdown (Felix Van Groeningen, 2012)

A team of American psychologists and professors of business reports its recent findings concerning the effect of money on subjects' endorsement of social systems that promote and legitimize social inequality. The results expose the dissonance between what Americans say (i.e. that they would like to see wealth inequality diminish) and what they do (i.e. oppose policies aimed at such a reduction). To that end, the team examined the impact of subtle reminders of the concept of money on subjects' social views. The group hypothesized that money serves as a symbol of free-market and as such it strengthens positive views of that system. A corollary is the belief that the outcomes of a free-market system are inherently just.

Subjects were divided into two groups. One group saw a faint image of $100 bills in the background of the instruction screen. The second group saw unrecognizable and blurred such images. Following the instructions screen, subjects completed a system justification scale that measures perceptions of the fairness and legitimacy of the prevailing social system in the United States (rating each item on a 7-point scale such that 1 means strongly disagree and 7 strongly agree). In another experiment subjects completed the Fair market ideology scale, which measures the extent to which people endorse free-market economic systems. In other experiments the image was not used and only the surveys were introduced. In their experiment 5, the authors provided their subjects with a description of the current American organ transplant system. Also, subjects were told that other countries apply a free-market approach to organ transplant. Again, volunteers were asked to express their opinion comparing both approaches via another scale.

The team reports that the 100$ bill images elicited heightened endorsement of not only the current social American system, but free-market capitalism in particular. This was evident even in the test case of organ donation. Further, the images led subjects Subjects also agreed more with the claim that victims deserve their fate, and that socially advantaged groups should dominate socially disadvantaged groups.

Taken together, these results show that even a subtle hint of money cements and fortifies support in free-market and capitalistic social order.

Caruso EM et al. 2013. Mere exposure to money increases endorsement of free-market systems and social inequality. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 142 (2): 301-306 (10.1037/a0029288)