The Psychology of Money

Psychology

Description

Michael Argyle examines money from psychological and social perspectives. Rather than treating money only as an economic tool, the book considers how attitudes toward earning, spending, saving, and wealth vary among people and social groups. Argyle connects financial behavior with work, status, relationships, and well-being, drawing attention to the meanings people attach to money. The discussion places private choices within wider social patterns and asks how money can shape identity, power, and interaction. Written as a research-based overview, the book offers readers a psychological framework for understanding everyday financial behavior.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Academic · Dense · Direct

Pace

Measured

Tone

Cerebral · Detached · Earnest

Structure

Argumentative

Focus

Ideas · Information

Emotional intensity

2 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 4 / 5
Ideas: 4 / 5
Structure: 3 / 5
Background knowledge: 2 / 5

Themes

ClassIdentityInequalityPowerWealthWork

About Michael Argyle

Michael Argyle writes research-centered social psychology that makes ordinary behavior available for systematic study. His method is to break broad subjects into observable components, then connect individual motives and choices with relationships, group patterns, and social settings. Social Interaction traces how speech, roles, situational cues, and nonverbal behavior organize face-to-face encounters, while Bodily Communication examines the combined effects of gaze, expression, tone, posture, and gesture. His direct, academic surveys also extend this approach beyond encounters. The Psychology of Happiness weighs evidence about work, leisure, health, personality, and relationships, and The Psychology of Money places earning, spending, and saving within questions of status, power, identity, and well-being.

About Adrian Furnham

Adrian Furnham is an organizational and applied psychologist whose academic, consulting, and public writing centers on behavior at work. His characteristic method measures differences in personality, ability, and motivation, then tests how they relate to performance and everyday judgment. He favors validated tests, systematic reviews, and longitudinal evidence, but writes for practitioners as well as researchers. That balance shapes books organized around recognizable problems rather than abstract theory. Co-written with Michael Argyle, The Psychology of Money connects saving, gambling, possessions, work, and family across cultures. The New Psychology of Money revisits those questions through behavioral economics and consumer persuasion, while 50 Psychology Ideas You Really Need to Know uses short, stand-alone essays to map major branches of the field.

Book details

Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Language: English
ISBN: 9781317798705

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