Hello again and welcome back to the savvy psychologist. I'm Dr. Ellen Hendrickson.

Every Friday I will help you meet life's challenges with evidence-based research, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

Money can't buy you love, plus it turns out it can cost you your humanity. Research has only begun to delve into the impact

money has on mindset, but what's come up so far ain't pretty. So this week we'll

investigate what falls by the wayside as the money rolls in,

and thankfully how to hold on to the things money can't buy.

So let's start with what money costs us. Cost number one is courtesy.

Ever heard this one? What's the difference between a catfish and a BMW owner?

One is a bottom feeding scum sucker and the other is a fish.

Unfortunately, BMW owners lived up to this reputation in a 2012 study carried out along a Northern California roadway. Over and over again, a researcher posing

as a regular old pedestrian, stood at a crosswalk, ready to cross the street as a car approached.

The good news is that 8 out of 10 cars stopped for the pedestrian and let him cross.

But when the research team created a five-tiered system with low-value category one rusted out beaters at the bottom and

luxury category five vehicles at the top like BMWs a pattern became clear. Of the category one vehicles, every single car stopped for the

pedestrian. But of the category five vehicles, almost 50% blew through the crosswalk, leaving the hapless pedestrian in a cloud of exhaust.

Now, there hasn't been a study yet about people who park their car across multiple spots,

and I know I'm getting pretty close to the line of my

zero judgment promise here but I'm willing to bet you know the results already.

Cost number two is empathy. A series of studies in the journal Psychological Science found

that people of lower socioeconomic status were better able to read others

expressions and emotions. In the study, participants were asked to self-identify

their social class using a picture of a ladder with rungs labeled 1 through 10.

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