Almighty Dollar: Staring at money makes you less collaborative

University of Minnesota professor Kathleen Vohs conducts interesting research into how money impacts our behavior. In one study participants stared at a screensaver – one group watched fish, the other watched dollars bills. After exposure to these images, test participants were told they needed to do a project and asked if they wanted to work alone or together. 80% of those who watched fish decided to work with another person, while only 20% of those who watched money wanted to collaborate. The control group (watching a blank screen) wanted to collaborate ~75% of the time, so this suggests people are naturally team-focused except when you emphasize reward, we become self-interested.