Just thinking about money leads to bad behavior among people, says a study that was jointly conducted by the University of Utah and Harvard University.
The research team arrived at this conclusion by dividing 300 participating undergraduate students into two groups. The first group was asked to perform activities that were based on money-related words and images and the second group, termed as a control group, was asked to indulge in activities that were not related to money. The first group was promised a financial reward at the end of the tests, while the other wasn't.
Once the activities were completed, the participants were asked to make a series of illegitimate business decisions such as acts of dishonestly to earn more money.
At the end of this task, the researchers found that the students who belonged to the first group were more prone to exhibiting unethical behavior than the controlled group.
"These findings suggest that money is a more insidious corrupting factor than previously appreciated, as mere, subtle exposure to money can be a corrupting influence," the study revealed.
"We certainly found that the love of money is corrupting, and just the mere exposure to it makes people do bad things," said University of Utah Professor Kristin Smith-Crowe, a co-author of the study.
The money minded group was more likely to steal a ream of paper from the office or to recruit a candidate who was willing to share confidential information. Plus, they possessed high levels of deception as well.
The researchers also discovered that the final outcome of the study did not change even when the participants were exposed to money in disguised or indirect forms.
Student's part of the first group participated in disguised money activities, such as word scrambles with money-related terms, tended to cheat in the game.
"Considering the significant role of money in business organizations and everyday life, the idea that subtle reminders of money elicit changes in morality has important implications," the study concluded.
