Human Behavior of Greed
Greed, as we know it, is usually a bad thing, or is it? What does greed mean anyway? To me, greed means wanting or having a selfish desire for something more than is needed. However the dimension of this definition is still very arguable in that it is not really understood what amount of excessiveness qualifies to be called greed. What qualifies to be called greed is that willingness of an individual to accept negative consequences for others all because of a great desire to get more of something that they already have. A narrow definition of greed is the desire for more money and wealth, this definition is however broadened as a desire for more resources that are deemed of value (Lambie & Haugen, p 33). People who are greedy are those that have more than they need while others around them have less or even nothing. This research analyzes the concept of greed, morality of greed and environment as a motivation for greed.
History and Greed
Greed has always been presumed to be isolated in the popular culture; however greed is also relevant in financial crisis. What is presumed to be greed is often shaped by religious and philosophical values; greed is often rooted in local, societal, cultural and temporal realities. A behaviour that presumed to be greedy and excessive in one time line may be considered beneficial in another place and time (Lambie & Haugen, p 31). Greed is not a modern concept, it is an ancient social construct, that played a great role in in shaping political thoughts as well as philosophical ideologies. In the 6th and 7th century, there was always excessive accumulation of wealth and power and over time writers have focused on the negative consequences of greed on the society as well as on individuals. Greed is the concept that influenced modern economic societies and trading practices (Lambie & Haugen, p 31).
Morality of Greed
Wang & Murnighan begin their article with different quotes on greed being a positive thing, which is not always seen as something good, but we are born with it. It is our natural human nature to be greedy or to have greed in us. Almost anyone feels greed at one point in their life. The article goes on about different aspects of greed. From a historical, philosophical, and religious point of view, greed is seen as immoral and inappropriate (Wang & Murnighan, p 20).On the other hand, in economic, political science, and science psychology points of views, it is seen as not something bad, because it can be used as a strategy to achieve something you want. Anyone can view greed either positively or negatively, but when they are victimized, they see greed as immoral and unjust, and when they have acquisitive opportunities, they see greed as more appropriate and acceptable (Wang & Murnighan, p 22). Greed has often been viewed to be inevitable and there are different views on morality of greed.
Economic theorists support greed arguing that it has positive contributions to the society and the economic systems. Greed is argued to be the generative mechanism that contributes to productivity; greed manifestations have the potential to improve behaviours and also organizations (Lambie & Haugen, p 32). Maximizing individual own interest, valuing competition and promoting self-interested behaviours can benefit the society and it can lead to economic growth. Those against greed argue that it is a destructive force that impedes progress in the society. Greed motivates corruption in systems causing civil discord and strife (Lambie & Haugen, p 32). A good illustration of the destructive nature of greed is with the downfalls of Wall Street and the 2008 recession. Greed has two aspects, the good and the bad; greed can motivate hard work on individuals promoting, ambition and accountability. Greed can also have negative manifestations where it can lead to excessive power, manipulation and exploitation (Lambie & Haugen, p 32). Greed can therefore not be intrinsically evaluated as moral or immoral, the consequences of greed are what should be defined as either destructive or productive.
Greed as a Trait
Greed cannot really be described to be an emotional trait because emotions are temporal and they specific according to the situation. This hence distinguishes them from the personality traits that are motivational and also enduring. Greed is a stable personality trait that that can be activated by situational characteristics, certain situations can temporarily trigger greed as compared to others. In the play The Bereaved Family by Branislav Nušić, it is obvious that these characters are extremely greedy. The one character who stands out the most would be Agaton; he tries to get the most out of the will and not let anyone else have anything from the will. He is the main character in the play, hence him behing the greediest of all. Wang and Murnighan explain that “chronic feelings of greed can lead to a selfish sense of entitlement over others,” which is exactly the type of person that Agaton is; he would boss the other characters around and think that only he is entitled to getting everything from the deceased’s will. The characters in the play are also somewhat hypocritical; they see others as greedy, but they do not recognize the existence of greed within themselves; each character catch each other stealing something from the deceased’s house and they call them out for it, but when they themselves are stealing, they don’t realize that it is wrong.
Wang & Murnighan, (p 2) reference Plato; “A person with a just and healthy soul would necessarily refrain from immoral and greedy behaviors”. This is categorized in the philosophical category. Treating greed as morally neutral would eventually lead to encouraging people to embrace greed, which would then increase the likelihood of people engaging in unethical, illegal, or immoral behavior. In a religious aspect, we can look at the Bible; Luke 12:15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Bible pg 851). People who are studying economics view greed as positive and beneficial, because it could be used as a strategy to achieve something. Sure, this could work for a while, but in the long run, this strategy would turn into something toxic to a human mind. Economic students or people in business would be so used to using greed as a strategy that they become greedy and selfish and could lead to, for example, a business ending in corruption.
Environmental influence on Greed
Greed is influenced by environmental conditions that play a great role in ensuring the survival and reproductive wellbeing of an individual. Environmental conditions in early life are particularly noted to influence an individual’s developmental pathways and thus influence the life history that they adopt in response to the challenges that they face in their environments. An individual that that grows up in a predictable environment can learn to expect the future to be similarly predictable, and hence adopt a life history strategy that is characterized by pro-social orientation and long tern goals. On the other hand an individual that grows up in an environment that is not predictable is likely to develop an expectation that the future is not certain (Chen, p 74). This individual is likely to adopt a life history strategy that is characterized by selfish orientation and short term goals. If this is taken into consideration, the concept of greed can also be rationalized to have evolved as a life strategy to try and respond to unpredictable nature of environments. Greedy people tend to have an advantage especially those living in insecure environments and settings where resources are scarce (Chen, p 74). Being greedy can in this case be explained to motivate increased resources and it also helps to reduce risks that are linked with uncertainty.
Life history theory can also be used to help explain the concept of greed in adulthood. Childhood environmental unpredictability is positively related to greed meaning that people that grew up in disrupted families tend to place greater importance on financial security as compared to the people that grew up in stable intact families (Chen, p 75). A good illustration of this is a child that grows up in a home where food is not provided consistently by his parents because there is shortage. This child is likely to develop insecure attachment relationship with his or her parents. In this condition, this child will grow up always trying to store as much food as he can to ensure that he has future food access and this will influence his behavior as an adult (Chen, p 77). Children tend to be very sensitive to uncertainty about resource acquisition; people are likely to acquire internalized mind set of environmental unpredictability all because of the experiences as children. This can lead to such individuals adopting a greedy life character. People who are greedy will always be motivated to unconsciously solve issues in the environment that threaten future accessibility of resources because they always want more.
Managing Greedy behaviors
Resisting greed is not easy, it requires a mindset that would consider the consequences of being greedy. These mindsets would lead the individual to place him or herself in the shoes of other people and view it in another perspective other than their own. They would then realize that greedy behavior and actions can have adverse outcomes, which would then cause them to engage less in greedy behavior. These people would also be more empathetic as they can place themselves in someone else's perspective, in turns of a greedy person who might not be empathetic due to their selfish behaviors.
Feelings of Un-fulfillment within an individual are also a great motivation for greedy behaviors on individuals. There are those people that are never satisfied with their lives and so they always try to get more resources to try and make their lives as perfect as they can. Waska in his work examines greedy patients, he illustrates that many patients express a feeling of never being fully satisfied with themselves or their lives. This feeling of un-fulfillment would lead to greedy behaviors and patients acting out on it. They receive immediate satisfaction of greedy impulses, which naturally leads to short-term happiness, but this emotion disappears quickly afterward, causing them to have long-term guilt and more desire to acquire more of what they already have.
Self-Reflection after greedy behavior can lead to feelings of guilt and regret, which outweigh short-term satisfaction and excitement (Waska, p 41). Most patients in this article have suffered chronic trauma or disappointment in their childhood, such as parents getting a divorce, alcoholism, neglect, sexual abuse, controlling and dominating parents, etcetera. Due to them experiencing a bad childhood, these patients have feelings that prevent the lasting of contentment or fulfillment, and so, any good and satisfaction would be destroyed by greed and turned into loss; “Everything is sacrificed for the sole goal of finding a perfect self or object, leading to self-destruction along the way” (Waska, p 41).
Self-entitlement influence on greedy behaviors
Greed is greatly motivated by feelings of self-entitlement; the stronger one feels entitled to something, the more they desire to have more of it. Feelings of entitlement can excessively increase and they can motivate undesirable behaviors by individuals (Razen & Stefan, p 165). Social obligation does not in any way help in reducing greedy behaviors; they only increase the frequency of equal sharing. Now, I am a bit greedy myself at times, for example, I remember when I was nine years old, begging my mom for a second ear piercing and telling her, it will be the last one I ever ask her. So I got it when I was 10, but then at 14 I wanted a third one, and then at 17 I wanted three more. With each time, I wanted more and more and I would feel that satisfaction and excitement right after getting it. But after a few weeks or months go by, I would feel as though they are not enough, and I would still want more. And to be honest, it is hard trying to fight that feeling of wanting more. I do not quite understand why I keep yearning for more piercings, but this, in turn, does not have any real negative consequences other than my mom telling me my ear looks horrifying and abnormal.
In conclusion, greed is something we all have even if we want to deny it, the means that are employed to get the more of what one desires is what matter. It is what help in defining the extent of one’s greediness. Lying to others, and doing things that hurt other people just to accumulate more of what one already has is immoral. Greed as illustrated has its positive as well as negative impacts depending on the situations. Greed in economics is good in that it motivates people to work hard to achieve their goals and to increase their resources. There are however situations where greed can influence undesirable behaviors such as misuse of power and all this have negative impacts on the society. Greed is not something that can be eradicated, however policies can be put in place to help set out the standards on greed especially in the business world.
Works Cited
Chen, Bin-Bin. “An Evolutionary Life History Approach to Understanding Greed.” Personality
and Individual Differences, Pergamon, 9 Feb. 2018, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886918300710.
Lambie, Glenn W., and Jaimie Stickl Haugen. “Understanding Greed as a Unified Construct.”
Personality and Individual Differences, Pergamon, 14 Dec. 2018, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886918306469.
Razen, Michael, and Matthias Stefan. “Greed: Taking a Deadly Sin to the Lab.” Journal of
Behavioral and Experimental Economics, North-Holland, 7 June 2019, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214804319300618.
Waska Robert. Greed, idealization, and the paranoid-schizoid experience of insatiability, The
Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review, (2003) 26:1, 41-50, DOI: 10.1080/01062301.2003.10592906
Wang, Long, and J. Keith Murnighan. “On Greed.” Taylor & Francis, https:// www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19416520.2011.588822.
