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)
