Wanting More, Caring Less: Greed Promotes Objectification by Enhancing Self-Enhancement Values and Undermining Self-Transcendence Values

Greedy individuals desire more social connections yet tend to have shorter relationships and experience greater loneliness. What explains this paradox? We propose that greed promotes interpersonal objectification—treating others as tools to fulfill acquisitive goals—through shifts in personal values. Across five studies (three preregistered; total N = 1,199), using both correlational designs with well-validated measures (Studies 1 and 4) and experimental designs with scenario-based manipulations (Studies 2, 3, and 5), we consistently found that greed increased objectification. This effect was evident in both work and personal contexts (Studies 2 and 3), and held across strangers, acquaintances, and friends (Study 3). Moreover, self-enhancement and self-transcendence values mediated the greed–objectification link: greed heightened adherence to self-enhancement values and dampened adherence to self-transcendence values, and both shifts promoted objectification (Studies 4 and 5). These findings identify greed as a novel antecedent of objectification and reveal personal values as the underlying mechanism.