3. WHAT IS GREED?
FROM WIKIPEDIA, THE FREE
ENCYCLOPEDIA
Greed is an uncontrolled
longing for increase in the
acquisition or use: of
material gain (be
it food, money, land, or any
sort of possessions); or social
value, such as status,
or power.
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4. WHAT IS GREED?
SIMPLIFIED
• The wish to get more of
anything is called a
desire.
• The unnecessary desire
for something is called
greed.
• A greedy person realizes
those desires by
behaving impatiently and
in unjustified manner.
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6. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF GREED
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Professor Brian Knutson used modern brain-
imaging technology to try to associate regions of
the brain with specific behaviors. In experiments
by professor and colleagues, the volunteers were
asked to buy and sell stocks while the imaging
machine called a functional MRI (FMRI) records
the brain areas activated.
ARE HUMANS NATURALLY GREEDY?
FINDINGS OF EXPERIMENT
• The findings suggest a connection between activity in “pleasure center”
areas of the brain and the action of making a profitable stock sale and
even risk-taking behavior in anticipation or hope of gain, such as
gambling. (Brain areas considered pleasure centers have been linked to
activities such as sexual orgasm and cocaine use.)
• In the experiments, losses and fear of loss activated a different area of
the brain— one that has been associated with painful experiences.
• The Bloomberg business editor commented: “At a neurological level, our
species’ desire for money may resemble our desire for drugs…” and “our
brains lust after money, just like they crave drugs.”
BUT EVEN IF THERE IS FEELING OF FEAR AND LOSS, WHY WE STILL IGNORE IT?
Next slide will answer it…
7. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF GREED
• Seeking pleasure and avoiding pain is a biological part of human nature. Greed is not. But seeking pleasure and avoiding pain
are not uniquely human. This behavior is shared by all living things that can experience the sensations of pain and pleasure.
• But under capitalism people learn that money can buy almost anything. Making money can become associated with pleasure
just as surely as a bell can make a dog salivate, once the dog has learned that the bell means dinner.
• For the big capitalists, greed—the desire for more and more wealth beyond the necessities of life—is what made them capitalists
in the first place. If that did not drive them, then they would not have succeeded as capitalists.
• Under a different social system that valued equality rather than inequality, getting satisfaction from accumulating more wealth
than one person could ever use would be considered a sickness—something like kleptomania.
• Greed can stimulate feelings of pleasure similar to sex or drugs does help explain why capitalists seem to actually lust after profit
and power, and why this lust will lead them to seek short-term gratification even if the long-term results of their action may be
disastrous.
EVEN IF THERE IS FEELING OF FEAR AND LOSS, WHY WE STILL IGNORE IT?
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8. AFFECTS OF GREED
An individual is combination of three
basic entities: body, mind and soul.
GREED DISTURBS ALL OF THEM.
• First when a person fulfills his
physical demands,
disproportionately, it disturbs
physical balance.
• Second, when a person realizes his
body desires, immodestly, it
disturbs wisdom of mind.
• Third, when a person fulfills his
body demands, impatiently, it
disturbs spiritual serenity.
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Mind
Greed Soul
Body
9. OVERCOMING GREED
• If you discover greed in your heart, don’t despair. Greed comes naturally to humans.
• We need to realize that greed is a bottomless pit, which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the
need without ever reaching satisfaction
• As long as greed is stronger than compassion, there will always be sufferings.
• All we have is on loan from God, not even body is ours!
• Bible says, “You fool ! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you
have prepared”
• Transform your mind.
• Know the difference between wants and needs. Afterall, THE RICHEST OF THE RICH IS ONE WHO IS NOT A
PRISONER TO GREED.