Cogito ergo sum

A article from NYTimes.

Just Thinking About Money Can Turn the Mind Stingy

By BENEDICT CAREY
Published: November 21, 2006

One of the most comforting versions of the American dream includes becoming not only rich, respected and glamorous, but also a soft touch: generous with time and money, a philanthropist-mensch, a nurturing prince or princess of industry.

But if a paper published last week in the journal Science is any measure, that impulse to share does not come naturally to anyone who is thinking about money, even unconsciously.

In a series of experiments, psychologists found that subconscious reminders of money prompted people to become more independent in their work, less likely to seek help from others or to provide it. They became reluctant to volunteer their time and stingy when asked to donate to a worthy cause.

“Everybody says that if they had the money, they’d give more away, they’d do what Warren Buffett did,” said Kathleen D. Vohs, lead author of the study, referring to the financier who recently donated more than $30 billion of his assets to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Well, we thought that that was a nice thing to bring into the lab, to test in a variety of ways,” added Dr. Vohs, a psychologist in the University of Minnesota school of management.

Her co-authors were Nicole Mead of Florida State University and Miranda Goode, a graduate student in marketing at the University of British Columbia.

In one experiment, involving 52 undergraduates, the students unscrambled sets of jumbled phrases. One group untangled phrases that were often about money like “high a salary paying.” A second group solved word puzzles that did not refer to money.

The researchers then had the students work on a difficult abstract puzzle that stumps most people and offered to help if the students wanted it. Those who had been thinking about money worked on the problem an average of more than five minutes before asking for help, almost 70 percent longer than the others.

By “priming” unconscious thoughts in similar ways, the researchers found that students with money on their minds, while clearly self-reliant, were less likely than peers who had not been primed to lend assistance: twice as slow to help a confused student on a word problem and about twice as cheap when asked to donate to help needy students.

Having money on the mind even caused the students to put more distance — literally — between themselves and others. Instructed to place two chairs together to meet another student, they put the chairs about 47 inches apart, compared with 31 inches for the students who had not been prompted.

The researchers say this effect of money is plainly evident in everyday life. People with resources do not recruit friends to help run a party. They hire a caterer. Students with money do not give a moving party with pizza. They hire a mover.

“We know there is a civilizing side to money, that people acting in a self-interested fashion depend on fellow humans in a community and tend to treat them fairly,” said George Loewenstein, a professor of economics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. “But this study shows its pernicious side, how the pursuit of money can be isolating.
“This study really came out of the blue. I don’t know of any precedent for this work.”

In the study, people’s personal attributes made little difference. This effect of money on behavior was as strong in women as in men, and it did not change with the students’ backgrounds. Daughters of high-end bankers behaved just like sons of plumbers.

“And none of them realized the studies were about money,” Dr. Vohs said. “It was all unconscious.”

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Be careful of what you think.

Thoughts, Desires, Believes can easily manifest into phyiscal realities, either consciously or unconsciously.

People see the things that they want to see because people believe the things that they want to believe. Such is the power of Self-delusion. This is neither bad nor good phenomemon for humans. Everyone uses this ability a little once a while for various reasons.

The only danger would be when one tries to pass his delusions on to others. One can choose to die in his own shit, but please, don't convince or force others to die in your shit too.

Koreans are more conservative than me.

The Newpaper reported that the music video below by U-nee (korean artist) is banned in Korea for being too hot. Dunno whats the big fuss about. She's obviously hot and the video is not that bad. Oh well...

Indonesia & The Red Dot

I refer to this post and another recent and seemingly related post by the blogger Mr Wang.

If you link things up, this online article by this Indonesian's publisher would an interesting addition to this line of thinking.

Probably not the last time we will hear about such things.

My Take on the Wee-Wee Fiasco

The next interesting thing was the fiasco about a certain RJC girl and her MP Father which got the local blogsphere agitated. And coupled with the suicide of a non-elite. It exploded into discussions on Elitism, Meritocracy and the Class Disconnect which were expounded by the local writer Catherine Lim many years ago (if my memory can still be trusted lah) and, at then, she was accused of challenging the out-of-bound markers in the 90’s.

Today, this incident shows that this deep rooted problem has blossomed or sunken its roots to affect our youths and particularly the elites in our educational system. What things about our system can be changed to right this growing issue ?

My take is that nothing short of a major political change that starts from the masses can effectively alleviate and arrest this issue. Unless there is a sudden sprouting of more heartland opposition MPs of various parties who can rise to the occasion sincerely and into the parliament to effect wide-sweeping policy changes, there is no other way. Such a scenario is largely impossible as such convictions must come from the masses’ heart but these hearts are currently more pre-occupied with issues of livelihood.

If this problem is not arrested, this red dot will really become a hotel in the near future with the elitist group being the only true patriots around as they would have too much to lose by then.

The first step to this solution would be allow total politcial freedom in the media and, then follow by subsequently, the adjusting of the current barrier to entry for anyone who wants to stand for elections so forth and so on. The current educational system should then undergo a more radical overhaul to arrest the growing diversion of the so called Student Elite and their neighbourhood brothers/sisters.

As long as there is only one main political party around, there isn't much hope except for slow changes that will come too late.

Thoughts during a hiatus

Around 3 weeks into my 2nd Job now. So far it had been a breeze since we are still trying to confirm a Lead Designer to start the ball rolling. As the Client’s Rep, I spending my time trying to understand my role from a Client’s perspective.

Been with my first job for almost 3 years. It gave me time to learn what I need to learn about this trade of mine. And most importantly, it’s a haven for me to look inward philosophically to understand life on this 3rd rock. Now, I’m like a practicing monk / student leaving the monasteries / hill to re-enter the mundane world to further my understanding and perhaps to create new chaos / dynamics / peace ? Hee hee…

I wanted to blog about our PM’s insertion that the IMF/World Bank event was a rounding success despite “agendas” from “others” but I couldn’t find the time as I try to act “on” for my new job. Now I couldn’t remember what I wanted to say.

Anyway, during the recent Deevapali weekend, Ter, I and 2 of his friends drove down to KL for a short break. We spend most of our time hunting down the delicious food there and spend our Saturday night at KL’s Zouk. And man, it’s a happening place. The amazing thing is that all the pretty girls seemed to be congregating at Zouk that night. Serious, I can’t find any unattractive lady in the midst. Seemingly an unreal experience in all my years of pubbing. The vibrant night scene at center of KL totally surpass that of the red dot,as itwas still very active into the wee hours of the night.

Amusingly, during our time in KL, we escaped the worst day of the Haze (I think it was PSI 150). But the Haze continued shrouding this island for another 2 weeks despite the repeated but failed assurance from the Establishment that it will be over soon. Currently the haze measurement stands stayed below 40. Its almost an annual affair these years given all the NATO policy by all the Asian countries. At least someone did make an apology even if there is no solution in sight.

Parking my car was an issue of cost for me because in the first 2 weeks because I was shuffling between my HQ and the site. While the Client did not grant me a slot in their underground carpark, I had still managed to find another season parking in another building that only costs 20 bucks more. Still I have to ration my expenses as my salary would come by end November, meaning that I’m almost penniless for 1 and a half month. No choice. Got to loan some money from my father or else I couldn’t last this stretch. Sad to say, my father took up driving night time taxi in order to supplement his income for his various financial commitments. The impact from the recession in the 90’s still affected many to this day.

I’ll expound the recent Wee-Wee Fiasco in another post later.

Let me backtrack a bit to the whole Temasek cum Shin Corp cum Military Coup in Thailand thingy. I couldn’t agree more with the author of this blog post that Mdm Ho Ching must step down as the head of Temasek after she settles this current issue properly and give the public a good explanation. Can’t let her just pat her backside and go off. The Establishment can put whoever they know to this position but her blunders must be answerable as public funds are involved.

All in all, in this transition period of mine, it was not dull except that I could not get down to write out all my thoughts. And hence on to the next post.