Study finds that handling money minimizes pain

Forget the pain medications and the Ibuprofen. Instead, why not spend some quality time with your cash?

A recent study uncovered some interesting information regarding money and pain. People who physically held and counted cash in their hands, and then dipped their hands in a bowl of scalding water, felt less pain than those who didn't hold the cash.

Yep, the study suggests that handling dollar bills actually helps ease both physical and mental pain.

In another set of experiments, Discovery.com reports that those who held the cash were soothed and eased of pain. These people were able to "shrug off the emotional pain of social exclusion."

Kathleen Vohs, a consumer psychologist at the University of Minnesota's Carleton School of Management in the Twin Cities, states, "When people are reminded of money in a subtle manner by counting out hard currency, they experience painful situations as being not very painful."

Vohs adds, "You could think about being able charge yourself up before you encounter pain. When I used to run marathons, I would've maybe wanted to be reminded of money first."

Before a painful experience, the message here is to dip your hands into some cold, hard cash. Don't be afraid to count it, either.

Eli Finkel, a social psychologist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, says, "These findings are groundbreaking. If real-world poverty follows the principles of these laboratory demonstrations, then confronting social rejection or physical pain should be experienced as more painful for poor people than for wealthier people."

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