When we are feeling blue we are told to count our blessings, but according to a study recently published in Psychological Science, counting our money might be a more useful activity. Psychologists Xinyue Zhou, Sun Yat-Sen University, Kathleen D. Vohs, University of Minnesota, and Roy F. Baumeister, Florida State University, investigated the psychological, physical and social impact of money.

To examine this, the researchers asked one group of participants to count out eighty $100 bills and another group to count eighty worthless pieces of paper. They then played a computerized ball-tossing game called Cyperball. The participants were led to believe that they were playing with three other gamers when the other players in fact were computer generated. Some participants received the ball an equal amount of times while other participants were excluded. Out of the participants excluded in the Cyperball game, those who had counted the money rated lower social distress than those who only counted paper.

In another experiment, the scientists asked participants to immerse their fingers in hot water for 30 seconds after they counted either money or paper. Surprisingly, those counting money rated a lower intensity of the hot water and physical pain than those who counted paper. In addition, the researchers found that participants who counted out the bills rated themselves as feeling "strong" more often than the paper counting group.

Adding a twist to the experiment, the scientists asked a group of participants to list their monetary expenditures from the past month and another group to list weather conditions in the past month. Both groups were then put through the Cyperball game and the physical pain test. Those who thought about the weather rated normal amounts of social distress or pain; those thinking about their finances experienced higher social distress when they were left out of the Cyperball game and reported greater pain from the hot water.

As the psychologists concluded, "The mere idea of money has considerable psychological power, enough to alter reactions to social exclusion and even to physical pain."

当我们感到郁闷时，我们会指望祝福，但是根据最近《心理学》刊出，数钱可能是有用的活动。中山大学心理学家周新月、明尼苏达大学的凯思琳和佛罗里达大学的罗伊调查了钱在心理学，身心和社会学方面的影响。

为了检验结论，研究人员让一群参加者数80张面值100美元的钞票，让另一群人去数无价值的纸。然后，他们玩起了名为Cyperball的电脑球投游戏。研究人员让参加者们相信他们自己和三个其他玩家一起玩，而他们实际上在和电脑对抗。一些参加者接到球就得一分，而其他人就出局。在游戏中出局的玩家里，数钱的所认为的社会困境的程度低于数纸的人。

在另一个试验中，科学家让在数完钱和数完纸的参加者把手指放在热水中30秒。吃惊的是，数钱的人所认为的热水强度要低于数纸的人。另外，研究者发现数钱的人与数纸的相比，前者认为自己更为"强大".

科学家在实验中加了一项，他们让一组人列出他们上个月的货币支出，另一组列出上个月的天气状况。两组人进行投球游戏和痛苦测验。回想天气的那一组体验了与常人一样的社会困境程度和痛苦；回想财政支出的人感到的社会困境程度和蘸热水的痛苦更大。

如心理学家所推断的，"关于钱的想法是很有大的心里效应，足够改变社会排外反映甚至是心里伤痛。"