Insatiable Desires – Friends as Tools: Dispositional Greed in Social Relationships – Chapter 6

This dataset accompanies chapter 6 of the dissertation. Greed is an insatiable desire to acquire more. It can be experienced over both material and non-material outcomes, but extant research mainly focused on economic decisions. So far, little is known about greed in the realm of social relationships, even though social relationships are an important part of people’s lives and a predictor of wellbeing. In four studies, we investigated how dispositional greed is associated with various aspects of social relationships. We analyse both primary data and secondary survey data. Results reveal that greedy individuals are lonelier, objectify their friends more, and are both less satisfied with and less close to their social contacts. Greedy individuals have shorter relationships but talk to their friends more often. These findings shed light on the role of greed in shaping people’s social lives.