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Context
In a Psychological experiment, one participant was given money. The participant with money would have to offer a part of the money to the other participant. The first participant could keep the money if the second participant agreed to take the money that the first participant offered.
What do you think? For the second participant, any money is a good deal. Isn’t it? Because if he disagrees to take the deal, he gets nothing, though in that case, even the participant with money also gets nothing.
It was seen in the experiment, that the participant who got the deal, wouldn’t agree to take less money, even though it meant him getting noting. That is greed.
Greed is an important factor for human motivation. However, this comes with several other aspects, such as justice, fairness, eligibility, deserve demand, and so on. Greed is an important driver of our decision-making process. All of us are driven by something or the other.
The problem starts when greed takes over the functionality of the brain. The consciousness falls, and one keeps chasing for more and more. This then never ends. As time progresses, one becomes ready to do anything to achieve what he or she desires, without ever thinking about the consequences. Finally, greed starts affecting your pathology and several health conditions arise from excess greed.
Recognizing the signs of Greedy Personality
- Overly self-centered behavior is the first give-away, of the kind described in Dicken’s A Christmas Carol in the person of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly businessman who has no place in his life for kindness, compassion or charity. Like Scrooge, greed is all about “me, me, me.” They have little regard for the needs and feelings of others. Every conversation has to revolve around them; if not, they become bored or irritated.
- Envy and greed are like twins. While greed can be defined as an excessive desire for possessions (such as wealth and power), envy can be defined as an extreme desire to get what belongs to others. Whatever the differences, greedy people are very much prisoners of envy. As they covet what others have, they will do anything to take whatever they envy from others, because they have to “win”: winning means obtaining what other people have, beating their opponents. But even when they do win, it is never enough. If you notice that envy is a person’s main preoccupation—
the driver of their actions – you can assume you are dealing with a greedy person.
- Greedy people struggle with the concept of empathy. Caring–being concerned about the feelings of others–is not part of their repertoire. Instead what prevails is contempt for others. Such people find it difficult if not impossible–to relate to how others feel. No wonder they behave callously, that they have no qualms about causing pain. They are
strangers to the notion of gratitude. Their inability to empathize, their lack of interest in others’ feelings, and their unwillingness to take responsibility for their actions when things do not work out, make them very difficult to be with.
- Greedy people look at the world as a zero-sum game. Instead of thinking that everyone benefits as the pie gets larger, they see it as finite. They must always have the biggest piece – and they believe they deserve it. Whenever they spot an opportunity, they will try to take advantage of others. Small wonder, then, that they are unable to maintain long-lasting
relationships.
- Greedy people are highly talented in taking things that don’t belong to them, including the credit for work done by others: they excel at maximizing their own contribution at others’ expense. Furthermore, to get what they want, they are experts in manipulation. They can be charming, but their principal agenda is to have people around them that
feed their ego. If that’s not the case, they are quick to tear others down; they are experts in making others feel bad. Ironically, however, as “takers” (not “givers”) this doesn’t make them feel better.
- Greedy people think short-term; they are blind to how costly their actions may be in the future. Greed compels them to take anything they believe is rightfully theirs, whatever the consequences, leaving others to cope with the fallout. The only thing they care about is their present needs. As the leader of a corporation, a greedy executive is more interested in getting a bonus than in making investments for future innovation–or than sharing whatever benefits accrue with other employees. But if the company is not doing well, the greedy executive will be the last to take the blame and
share the pain.
- Greedy people are not good at maintaining boundaries. In the pursuit of their material needs they will compromise their moral standards to achieve what they believe they deserve, cheating included. They are always looking for loopholes or ways to outsmart whatever rules and regulations have been put in place to prevent this kind of behavior. They excel in offloading the cost of the common onto others.
- Greedy people are never satisfied with what they have. They know no limits. They always want new things instead of enjoying what they have and are never gratified by their achievements. They always want more, and to get it they constantly shift focus.
Take Self-Assessment Greed Test
Biological Significance:
- Greed has been shown to have directly linked with a reduction in Serotonin, which modulates the Serotonin-Histamine response. Imbalance in Serotonin elevates immunity response and increases allergy complications.
- As Serotonin regulates sleep and wakefulness, depletion of this Neurohormone may lead to sleeplessness and insomnia.
- Because greed leads to dissatisfaction, there is a consistent restlessness in the brain, which lowers the vagal tone of the parasympathetic branch, lowering the ability of the body to heal from inflammation. Hence Greed distinctively increases inflammatory metabolic diseases, such as Diabetes, PCOS in Females, Autoimmunity diseases, Obesity, Cardiovascular diseases, Adrenaline fatigue, and so on.
- Because greed inherently drives us to get more, the sympathetic nervous system remains overactive, increasing cortisol. Cortisol in the body triggers more glucogenesis and therefore elevates blood sugar.
- Increased cortisol levels are also shown to have a direct impact on Cortisol resistance, which has a direct correlation with the Circadian clock of the body. Hence greed disturbs the circadian clock(the master clock SCN in the brain, and the clocks at the cellular levels), resulting in disruption of the diurnal functions of the organs. This leads to non-dipping of blood pressure as the day progresses and in the night, significantly increasing the risk of stroke, and hypertension.
- Because of (4) and (5), Liver detoxification, which needs a good parasympathetic vagal tone, and a settled circadian clock, gets totally disrupted, leading to Non-Alcoholic-Fatty Liver Disease.
- As insulin, cortisol, serotonin regulates the production of Melatonin hormone in the cells, which is responsible for cellular damage control, a loss of homeostasis in the three hormones, coupled with elevated blood sugar inhibits Melatonin receptors, increasing the chances of cancer significantly.
- Insulin is the blood that triggers the brain to produce more Grehlin hormone, responsible for appetite, and thus, greed makes one feel more hungry all the time, leading to gut inflammation, and obesity.
- Greed has also been shown to come with an increased tendency of risk-taking and is correlated with gambling and addictive behaviors.
- Greed in the brain is managed through the dopamine pathways. Because dopamine is a pleasure hormone, it is short-lived. Thus greed drives one to have more dopamine. Lack of it shuts off the prefrontal-cortex connection with the medulla and olfactory cortex of the brain. The Olfactory Cortex is the portion of the cerebral cortex concerned with the sense of smell. It is part of the Cerebrum. This system is involved in the processing of our emotions, survival instincts, and memory formation and connects senses, such as odors, to our memories and emotions. Hence, greed may lead to a significant reduction in your sensory processing, as well as result in loss of memory.
- The above leads to Amygdala being the core decision-maker in situations, and thus it drives more impulsive and reactive behavior than responsive and thoughtful behavior. Thus, greed results in increased impulsivity and adrenaline rush. This puts the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adranaline Axis under tremendous stress and therefore may result in Hypothyroidism and extremely high heart rates.
In short, increased greed is one of the confounding psychological conditions for metabolic disorders, and the dysregulated metabolism can not be fixed without reducing greed.
Conclusion
Greed drives human motivation, aspiration, is part of the survival gene, and drives our decision-making process. This is one of those psychological features that probably has the greatest effect on our lives, and behaviors, and yet, there has been very little research on the effect of Greed on our health. This article attempted to combine Endocrinology, Biological Psychiatry, Physiology, and psychology to quantify, qualify greed, and estimate the effect of greed on our overall health.
Medicine will only help you to suppress the symptoms. But the real question is how will any medicine or mental health professionals, or clinicians can understand and help you with your greed?
