The good, bad and ugly of dispositional greed

Marcel Zeelenberg; Seger M Breugelmans

doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101323

The good, bad and ugly of dispositional greed

Curr Opin Psychol. 2022 Aug:46:101323. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101323. Epub 2022 Feb 28.

Authors

Marcel Zeelenberg¹, Seger M Breugelmans²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Social Psychology, Tilburg Institute for Behavioral Economics Research (TIBER), Tilburg University, the Netherlands; Department of Marketing, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Electronic address: Marcel@uvt.nl.
² Department of Social Psychology, Tilburg Institute for Behavioral Economics Research (TIBER), Tilburg University, the Netherlands.

PMID: 35339975
DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101323

Abstract

Greed is the insatiable desire for more. It is an important economic motive with numerous implications for consumer behavior and decision processes. We describe research showcasing the good, the bad and the ugly of dispositional greed. The good of greed refers to the potential advantageous consequences for society as a whole and for greedy people themselves. The bad of greed refers to the potential harm that it causes to others, and the ugliness of greed refers to the disadvantageous consequences of being greedy for the people themselves.

Keywords: Dispositional greed; Economic motive; Harm-to-others; Measurement; Well-being.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Humans
Motivation*
Personality*