Apr. 26, 2009 During these trying financial times, the cost of
healthcare and how much we are willing to pay for it is at the
top of our economic concerns. The financial value of pain has a
wide ranging influence, affecting drug prices and injury
compensation. But what about on an individual level — is it
possible to place a value on our health, to prevent pain and
suffering? University College London psychologists Ivo Vlaev and
Nick Chater, and neuroscientists Ben Seymour and Raymond J.
Dolan were interested in just how much money volunteers were
willing to pay to avoid pain and discomfort. Study participants
were given money, with the understanding that they could keep
for themselves whatever cash remained. They experienced one
pulse of electric shock and then had to indicate how much money
they would pay in order to avoid receiving 15 more shocks of the
same intensity. Then, a computer program would determine how
much the volunteers would actually have to pay. The program
would randomly select a dollar amo