The psychology of greed ⏲️ 6 Minute English

Hello. This is Six Minute

English from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil. And I'm Beth.

I'm writing my birthday wish list,

Beth. Listen, I want a new laptop, a gold Rolex watch and a red sports car.

That is quite a lot,

Neil. Isn't that a bit greedy?

So what! Greed is good. We are genetically built to want things

that increase our social status. Power and material possessions like money,

a nice house, a fast car and all that stuff.

I'm not so sure Neil. Remember

greed is also one of the seven deadly sins.

In this programme, we'll be discussing greed –

the desire to accumulate stuff,

keep it for yourself and not share it with others.

And of course, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

But first I have a question for you, Beth.

You reminded me of a famous quote by one of history's greatest leaders,

'The world has enough for everyone's need, but not everyone's greed'.

But who said it? Was it:

A. the Dalai Lama,

B. Mahatma Gandhi or C. Martin Luther King?

I think it was Mahatma Gandhi. OK, Beth.

I'll reveal the correct answer at the end of the programme.

At the neurological level,

greed is controlled by the reward centre of the brain.

Greedy people feel good when they choose the stuff they want

and this happens at the unconscious, emotional level of the brain

meaning there is little conscious awareness about how greedy actions

might affect others or be unfair. What does this look like

in real life? That's what University of California

psychologist, Professor Paul Piff, investigated using the

classic family board game, Monopoly. The game was rigged to give one

'rich' player an advantage by letting them roll two dice

instead of one, and collecting twice as much money as the poor player

when passing Go.

So, what happened when Professor Piff asked the 'rich' players why they had

inevitably won the fixed game?

Listen to the answer he gave to BBC