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Nice people may be at greater risk of bankruptcy and other financial hardships compared with their less agreeable peers, not because they are more cooperative, but because they don't value money as much, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.
"We were interested in understanding whether having a nice and warm personality, what academics in personality research describe as agreeableness, was related to negative financial outcomes," said Sandra Matz, PhD, of Columbia Business School and lead author of the study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. "Previous research suggested that agreeableness was associated with lower credit scores and income. We wanted to see if that association held true for other financial indicators and, if so, better understand why nice guys seem to finish last."
[...] "We found that agreeableness was associated with indicators of financial hardship, including lower savings, higher debt and higher default rates," said Gladstone. "This relationship appears to be driven by the fact that agreeable people simply care less about money and therefore are at higher risk of money mismanagement."
[...] "Not every agreeable person is at equal risk of experiencing financial hardship," Gladstone said. "The relationship was much stronger for lower-income individuals, who don't have the financial means to compensate for the detrimental impact of their agreeable personality."
Nice guys finish last: When and why agreeableness is associated with economic hardship (DOI: 10.1037/pspp0000220)
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Sunday October 14 2018, @02:24PM (3 children)
Doesn't it all depend on how you look at it though? Isn't someone who owes $30,000 worth $30,000 less than someone who's just completed a bankruptcy leaving them with exactly nothing? This society has come to worship
creditdebt.If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 14 2018, @03:22PM (2 children)
Well ... um ... you are correct (and very much so), but someone who has declared bankruptcy is not worth anything in the eyes of the financial community because then are not (and will not be for a while) a source of revenue (e.g., interest on your credit cards, on your store cards, on your car loans, on your mortgage, etc). So someone with lots of debt is worth less in a "the math is easy" sort of way, but they are worth more to the world because they are living beyond their means and fueling the economy and financial industry.
Sadly, in America people's financial worth is measured with the "how much can they buy" metric, whereas in places like Europe their financial worth would be measured in the "how much can they save" metric. The US economy did not learn much from the credit industry collapse from 10 years ago (and we never will).
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday October 15 2018, @12:31AM (1 child)
On the flip side of that, isn't someone who owes $30E3 and hasn't defaulted yet, basically the same as the lender holding a bond for that amount? That's like an investment, which is worth mumble time value of money mumble something with accompanying risk.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @09:41AM
In a way, yes. But bonds have a much lower risk and that is reflected in their lower yield. The loan has greater risk and pays accordingly.