Are You Overearning?

Is there ever really such a thing as earning too much money? New research in the area of psychology suggests that when it comes to that paycheck, less is sometimes more.

Very recently, researchers from the University of Chicago, University of Miami and Shanghai Jiao Tong University set out to study ”overearning.” They defined the phenomenon as “forgoing leisure to work and earn beyond needs” and their inquiry was one rooted in real-life problems. It’s not uncommon that many people, in a society that values productivity and wealth, push themselves as hard as they can to earn as much as possible. It’s the American way. But are we better off for it? The findings of the research, which were published in the June issue of Psychological Science, say no.

“In this research, we introduced a minimalistic paradigm that allows researchers to study overearning in a controlled laboratory setting,” the report reads. “Using this paradigm, we found that individuals do overearn, even at the cost of happiness, and that overearning is a result of mindless accumulation—a tendency to work and earn until feeling tired rather than until having enough.”

The researchers conducted a series of experiments where participants were asked to do minor tasks for reward (candy in some instances and jokes in others.) In the first experiment, participants listened to pleasant music for a short while but they had the option to interrupt the music with 200 milliseconds of unpleasant noise by pressing a button. For every 20 times they pressed the button, they would receive a piece of candy.

A second group had the exact same task, except they had to press the button six times more for the same reward. All could eat as much candy as they earned but any uneaten candy had to be left behind. Naturally, those that had to work more earned less and researchers found that they ate most of of their earnings. What’s perhaps interesting is that those who had to work less, earned far more candy than they could consume  - sitting through more noise for rewards they couldn’t take with them.

The second experiment in the study looked at earning behavior based on planning. The experiment was set up similarly, except participants were asked to first predict how much of a reward they would want at the beginning of the experiment. What researchers found was that participants who could predict how much they wanted to earn stopped doing the work (listening to the noise) as soon as they reached their goal. Those who did not make a prediction, however, overearned.  And here’s the kicker: In the end, all participants rated how happy they were during the study and  those who made predictions were happier than those who did not. The researchers summarized their findings writing, “Overearners forgo the pleasure of leisure and endure the pain of extra work.”

So what can be learned here? It’s safe to say that overearning is the kind of problem many dream of but it doesn’t come without its pitfalls. According to the researchers overearners, aside from proving less happy, may also lower the wellbeing of people around them. Another big con to overeanring: it requires more resources (energy, time, etc.) The resources could be conserved or put to better use in other areas besides work.

Ultimately, it’s up to each individual to determine how much is too much and if the study is correct, the answer to that question should start with careful planning and analysis of the costs and benefits that come along with your hard work.

Photo Courtesy, 401(K) 2012.