Monetary reward cant take away pain: IIT Bombay study

The aim was to study how cash rewards affect the mood response, especially of those who experience physical pain, unlike those who don't.

Any sort of monetary reward is less likely to improve mood if one is in pain: IIT Bombay study

A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, University of Zurich, University of Fribourg and Harvard University has published a report, highlighting how physical pain affects our mood and where monetary rewards come in. The paper has been published in the Humanities and Social Sciences Communication of Nature. The aim was to study how cash rewards affect the mood response, especially of those who experience physical pain, unlike those who don't.

The research team of individuals from IIT Bombay, Harvard University and others took their 'University Students' as their study universe. The team found out that any sort of monetary reward is less likely to improve the mood of university students. The hypothesis was proved right when the aspect of 'pain' was brought in, showing that pain has a negative effect on an individual's overall mood.

For the study, the research team divided students of a sample size of 79 into two groups. The groups were such - one in which participants had no physical pain, the other in which they belonged to the 'sub-clinical' group. The method deployed here was called 'Fribourg Reward Tas.'

The hypothesis was based on the outcomes of previous studies. Researchers hypothesized that "participants from the subclinical group would show a lesser effect of monetary reward on mood when compared to the group of people with no pain."

IIT Bombay and the entire team of researchers analyzed the study using statistical software. The analysis, as we now know it, showed that monetary rewards are less likely to change or improve the mood if someone is in physical pain.

While the outcome of this study is interesting, more work is expected to be conducted in the future. Professor Rashmi Gupta, Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience Lab, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Bombay, said that they “plan to do the same study with the university students in India to explore the cross-cultural differences."

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