English #1: The psychology of greed

I practice English by listening to 6 Minutes English, a podcast from BBC Learning English. They have many interesting topics and a clear structure that I can follow easily. 

The topic for this morning is the psychology of greed. You can find the link here.

In this program, the definition of greed is the desire to accumulate (tich tru) 'stuff', keep it for yourself, and not share it with others. 

Niel (one of the hosts) recalled a quote from Gandhi: "The world has enough for everyone's need, but not everyone's greed".

At the neurological level, greed is controlled by the reward center of the brain. Greedy people feel good when they choose the stuff they want, unconsciously. In an experience conducted by Professor Paul Piff, people who have more (stuff, or rich) tend to think that they can control the game, they take credit for their winning. An idiom the professor uses in this case is: to pull yourself up by your bootstrap, meaning to improve your situation through your own hard work, without help from anyone else. 

A very interesting point is, that people feel better than others when they can buy more things, especially one thing: space. You live in your own private bubble at home and at work. People who are well off (rich) are just more socially independent. they don't need others in their lives as much. As a result, they may lack empathy. I found this point interesting because it happens nowadays, when people have a better life, they do not have a tendency to make friends and maintain relationships. Sometimes I think that if I provide my sons with all they need, do they want to make friends with others? When I was a kid, my dad told me repeatedly that building relationships is very important because I need a network to support me in my life. I did not agree 100% with my dad, but I have to say that advice from my dad made me think that relationship is important and I always need to connect with people to learn more from them. As a result, I had many good relationships with others. 

Key takeaways from this podcast:

- Greed is controlled by the reward center of the brain.

- Rich People are more socially independent, so they may lack empathy (unconsciously, maybe)