Your personal economic thinking

Our feelings control our lives. Money affects our feelings. Therefore, money affects
our lives and the way we think. In their book, "The Psychology of Money," Furnham and
Argyle, on page 48, show how money affects our emotions. According to Furnham and
Argyle, the top twelve of twenty feelings affected by money, in order are:
1. anxiety, (nerveousness when we don't have enough to get what we need...)
2. anger, (ticked off at the system which seems to reward some and penalize others...)
3. helplessness, (nothing we can do, and no one to turn to...)
4. happiness, (satisfied, no worries, having the money to get what we need and want...)
5. excitement, (Wow!! Great!! What a feeling to have the money to do new, fun things...)
6. envy, (how come they can do it and I can't? I wish I was like them.)
7. resentment, (I hate this. I hate them. I hate everything...)
8. fear, (will I survive and live through this? Will I starve? Will I have a place to live?)
9. guilt, (I am letting down my family and all those who depend on me. I feel bad...)
10. panic, (what am I going to do? I am at the end of my rope. There is nothing else I can do...)
11. distrust, (I don't trust any of those crooks. Everyone is lying, cheating and stealing.) and
12. sadness. (I feel really bad. Nothing works for me. Nothing good ever happens to me...)

Since our emotions affect our thoughts and feelings (which we have added here in parentheses), we can see how money, our personal economic thinking and our feelings are connected. Yet, most people are confused when thinking about money, finances and economics in general. Are we confused about our feelings too? And if so, what can we do about it?

Playing BUX allows us to have fun playing with our ideas and basic economic notions about money- how to get it, how to spend it. Thinking about how we use resources, time, and money, with others, is what we call "your personal economic thinking."

An example of personal economic thinking is supported by an incident in which a highly focused woman approached the game's inventor in a parking lot, asking, "What kind of a game is this that has my 6-year old asking me financial strategy questions that I can't answer?" That mother's son was one of two (smart) six-year-olds who watched for a few minutes and immediately started playing with purpose and passion. This is an example of the beginning of personal economic thinking.

Here are twelve concepts from playing BUX that could stimulate ones personal economic thinking.

Game Situation
Personal Economic Thinking
Each player gets chips and cards to start. I have some resources and money. Let me see how I can use these resources to grow value and make some more money.
Objective: to get the most chips. I must build my value– by making the best moves available to me.
Get chips by making sets, getting good deals, and selling at the right time. I must make smart decisions, get the things I need to create value, and sell at the right time. It takes timing, paying attention and patience.
Rule: On your turn, buy, sell or trade cards. I am buying, selling and trading– 3 of the 4 basic economic moves. The fourth is production– the action of creating value to sell.
Three cards drawn at a time is an opportunity for all players. I must constantly evaluate all opportunities which satisfy needs- mine and others. Then choose and take my best economic action.
Players build 3-card sets of various values to sell for chips. Production– the fourth basic economic move. I am putting together resources to make quality, finished products; building value from what is available to me at the time.
Players evaluate all spreads, including their own, when bidding for the 3 drawn cards. I must figure out what I need and what others need too. Then make my best choices about what to do. Then pay in effort, time and money if I need to, to accmplish my objectives.
Priority-changing BUX 1-2-3 cards are randomly drawn. I must keep track of changing events in the world– what is valuable, what will be valuable, and how to benefit as conditions change.
Three draw-deck play timing controls the length of the game. I must keep track of time and timing in addition to the changing values. Time, money and actions are connected- and always changing.
Players compete simultaneously against each other. I am competing with all players in the economic game of life. Any economic actions by anyone affects economic actions and values of others.
Each player plays for him- or herself. I am on my own, responsible for myself and must make my best value-based, economic decisions that will affect my future positively.
Winning. I feel good when I'm the best. I feel good being able to control what matters. I love having freedom to choose what I want to do. If this is success, there's nothing like it. And I did it.

More and similar game related examples are shown in "lessons" from playing the game.

Tests show that even orangutans have a sense of value– the basis of personal economic
thinking.

For more connections between the game and general economic thinking, click here.


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