Why Are We Reluctant to Sell Friendship?¹

Abstract

There are a number of indicators that people try to keep money out of social relationships, and a number of reasons why such separation might occur: undermining of intrinsic motivation, contamination of signals of friendship, and the apparently irrational tainting influence of money. Two experiments in which psychology students participated in brief conversations under various payment conditions found little evidence for payment adversely affecting the social interactions. A third study comparing a service group (hairdressers) that has considerable social interaction with its customers and a control group indicated that the former did not suffer any undermining of normal social motivation. Overall, the findings suggest that the separation of money from social relationships may not have a rational foundation.

Media Use by Children, and Parents’ Views on Children's Media Usage

“…Parents should watch television with their children to teach them how to interpret the media messages or the content of commercials. Parental supervision during watching enables the children to distinguish between reality and fantasy [7]. Several studies have documented that higher levels of screen time are associated with less sleep, more attention problems, and lower academic performance [8-10].…”

“…Falbe et al [19] showed that each hour-per-day screen time increase was associated with increased intake of total foods of low nutritional quality, increased intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages, fast food, sweets, and salty snacks, and decreased intakes of fruits and vegetables. It is important to encourage families to monitor their children’s media use and spend more time doing physical activities with their children to improve cardiovascular health in their adulthood [7]. There are contradictory results regarding the effect of electronic media use, and there is a two-sided coin that may affect both physical and psychological health [2].…”

“…The study by Kabali et al [6] showed that children ranging in age from 6 months to 4 years spend 45 minutes a day watching television, 27 minutes watching television shows or videos using a mobile device, 22 minutes using apps on a mobile device, and 15 minutes playing games on a video console. Recently reported “Digital in 2016” of “We Are Social” showed that 58% of whole population in Turkey are active Internet users, 53% are active social media users, 90% have mobile connections, and 45% are active mobile social users [7]. Among the whole population, 86% have a mobile phone (all types), 56% have a smartphone, 48% have a desktop or laptop computer, and 11% have a tablet device.…”

“…In Turkey, the average daily television viewing time is 2 hours 18 minutes, the average daily use of the Internet via computer or tablet is 4 hours 14 minutes, and the average daily use of social media via any device is 2 hours 32 minutes. Regarding Facebook user profiles, 19% of all users are aged between 13 and 19 years [7]. …”

Marketplace and personal space: Investigating the differential effects of attachment style across relationship contexts

“…If a person perceives that a relationship is based on a financial motive, he may evaluate the relationship as unsatisfactory because of the negative connotations of monetary exchange in the context of that relationship. For example, crucial emotional rewards may be less likely to occur when the relationship's existence is attributed to extrinsic motivation for the relationship partner (i.e., money) rather than intrinsic motivation (Kemp & Burt, 1999). In other words, if a consumer believes that a relationship exists with service providers only because they are being paid rather than based on a genuine affinity, then the consumer may perceive the relationship as less successful.…”