When we are feeling blue we are told to count our blessings, but according to a study recently published in Psychological Science, counting our money might be a more useful activity. Psychologists Xinyue Zhou, Sun Yat-Sen University, Kathleen D. Vohs, University of Minnesota, and Roy F. Baumeister, Florida State University, investigated the psychological, physical and social impact of money.

    To examine this, the researchers asked one group of participants to count out eighty $100 bills and another group to count eighty worthless pieces of paper. They then played a computerized ball-tossing game called Cyperball. The participants were led to believe that they were playing with three other gamers when the other players in fact were computer generated. Some participants received the ball an equal amount of times while other participants were excluded. Out of the participants excluded in the Cyperball game, those who had counted the money rated lower social distress than those who only counted paper.

    In another experiment, the scientists asked participants to immerse their fingers in hot water for 30 seconds after they counted either money or paper. Surprisingly, those counting money rated a lower intensity of the hot water and physical pain than those who counted paper. In addition, the researchers found that participants who counted out the bills rated themselves as feeling "strong" more often than the paper counting group.

    Adding a twist to the experiment, the scientists asked a group of participants to list their monetary expenditures from the past month and another group to list weather conditions in the past month. Both groups were then put through the Cyperball game and the physical pain test. Those who thought about the weather rated normal amounts of social distress or pain; those thinking about their finances experienced higher social distress when they were left out of the Cyperball game and reported greater pain from the hot water.

    As the psychologists concluded, "The mere idea of money has considerable psychological power, enough to alter reactions to social exclusion and even to physical pain."

    當我們感到郁悶時，我們會指望祝福，但是根據最近《心理學》刊出，數錢可能是有用的活動。中山大學心理學家周新月、明尼蘇達大學的凱思琳和佛羅里達大學的羅伊調查了錢在心理學，身心和社會學方面的影響。

    為了檢驗結論，研究人員讓一群參加者數80張面值100美元的鈔票，讓另一群人去數無價值的紙。然后，他們玩起了名為Cyperball的電腦球投游戲。研究人員讓參加者們相信他們自己和三個其他玩家一起玩，而他們實際上在和電腦對抗。一些參加者接到球就得一分，而其他人就出局。在游戲中出局的玩家里，數錢的所認為的社會困境的程度低于數紙的人。

    在另一個試驗中，科學家讓在數完錢和數完紙的參加者把手指放在熱水中30秒。吃驚的是，數錢的人所認為的熱水強度要低于數紙的人。另外，研究者發現數錢的人與數紙的相比，前者認為自己更為"強大".

    科學家在實驗中加了一項，他們讓一組人列出他們上個月的貨幣支出，另一組列出上個月的天氣狀況。兩組人進行投球游戲和痛苦測驗。回想天氣的那一組體驗了與常人一樣的社會困境程度和痛苦；回想財政支出的人感到的社會困境程度和蘸熱水的痛苦更大。

    如心理學家所推斷的，"關于錢的想法是很有大的心里效應，足夠改變社會排外反映甚至是心里傷痛。"