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Why Are We Reluctant to Sell Friendship? 1
Author(s) -
Kemp Simon,
Burt Christopher D. B.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1999.tb00110.x
Subject(s) - friendship , payment , social psychology , psychology , irrational number , service (business) , social relation , marketing , finance , economics , business , geometry , mathematics
There are a number of indicators that people try to keep money out of social relationships, and a number of reasons why such separation might occur: undermining of intrinsic motivation, contamination of signals of friendship, and the apparently irrational tainting influence of money. Two experiments in which psychology students participated in brief conversations under various payment conditions found little evidence for payment adversely affecting the social interactions. A third study comparing a service group (hairdressers) that has considerable social interaction with its customers and a control group indicated that the former did not suffer any undermining of normal social motivation. Overall, the findings suggest that the separation of money from social relationships may not have a rational foundation.