Economic Hardship Might Increase Tendency to Help Others

If there’s an upside to adversity, it might be greater empathy for others. That idea makes a certain intuitive sense to us, and there’s some evidence to support it. Take, for example, a 2016 study published in the journal Emotion. In the study, psychology researchers collected information about how much adversity people had encountered in…

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The Dangers of Tying Your Self-Worth to Money

We’ve all heard that money can’t buy happiness, but that doesn’t mean that people’s ideas of “self-worth” and “net worth” don’t start to overlap sometimes. A newly published study gives a warning about the possible consequences of seeing money as something that gives you “value” as a person, so to speak. The authors of the…

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Personality Traits and Holiday Spending

Not everyone approaches the holiday season in the same way, financially speaking. Some will run up credit card bills with heaps of lavish gifts while others take a more tightfisted approach. A newly published study looks at some of the personality differences that play into holiday spending habits. In a paper titled Who Are the…

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Valuing Time Rather Than Money May Lead to Happiness

Time is money, right? But in a literal sense, that’s not true. Time is time, and money is money. In fact, time might be more important than money, at least as far as happiness goes. A new study suggests that when it comes to creating a life that makes you happy, prioritizing time over money…

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Who Plans to Retire Early?

Given the option to retire, people will make different decisions about how long to keep working. In order to learn more about how people make retirement decisions, a recent study decided to focus on those who are most eager to close out their careers: adults over 50 who intend to retire before reaching the official…

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Why Do Rich People Lie More?

With great power doesn’t necessarily come great honesty. It turns out that wealthier people are more likely to engage in several different kinds of unethical behavior. A 2012 study showed, for example, that people in higher socioeconomic classes were more likely to break traffic laws, cheat in order to win prizes, lie in negotiations, and…

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Spending Habits Can Reveal Personality Traits

Among the various types of data that are being collected about you while you browse the internet, you can bet that your spending habits are one of them. That raises the question of just how much someone knows about you when they have a record of your purchases. There are some obvious conclusions that can…

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