Monetary Reminders Lead to Exchange Orientation and Emotion Suppression

The mere exposure to money, independently of the context of any goal to which it might be relevant, increases individuals’ motivation to be socially independent and decreases their sensitivity to others’ needs (Vohs, Mead and Goode 2006; 2008). Thus thinking about money may dispose individuals to view themselves as being more in an exchange relationship with others (Clark and Mills 1979) in which interpersonal interactions are considered in impersonal, transactional terms. Transactions in such a relationship are governed by quid pro quo without regard for idiosyncratic needs of the parties involved. Given that emotions are used to convey information about needs of the senders (Ekman 1993), the expression of emotion is likely to be considered irrelevant and even inappropriate in such a relationship and, therefore, is likely to be suppressed. Our research evaluated implications of this general hypothesis. Five experiments showed that subtle reminders of money can influence people’s disposition toward exchange versus communal relationships, their willingness to express emotion, and their reactions to others’ expression of emotions.