What emotion is greater? Your delight in finding a lost $10 bill, or you grief at losing a $10 bill?

In general, people tend to feel almost twice as strongly about loss compared to gain. Loss aversion is a well-studied phenomenon.

Finding: Intense by short-lived
Losing: Low-keyed by unbelievably time-consuming

What @thorninmud said.

I found a purse and a wallet (2 different times). And in both cases, when I met the people to give them back their stuff, they broke down in tears.

I found a $20 bill on the side of the road once. It was more of an “oh, look at that” experience.

I’d feel greater emotion if I found $10 than if I lost $10. Make it $100+, and I’d feel a whole lot worse about losing it.

Although, after spending nearly $800 in vet bills during the last 12 hours because my dog ate a pack of sugar free gum, which is toxic to dogs, I would be pretty upset to lose even $10 at this point.

@tom_g That was relief at not having to go to the DMV and prove they’re not trying to steal their own identities.

I should mention that the effects of loss aversion aren’t so noticeable in hypothetical situations like this question. Researchers who study this have to use actual money with the subjects. There has to be an actual loss at stake, not just a hypothetical one.

I’m off to a day at work, but I’m going to put my two cents in at this point.

About 30 years ago I lost a $20 bill. At that point I made an almost conscious decision to be more pleased for the finder than I was sad for the loser (me).

I have likely lost more than $10 and never known it, yet I was unaccountably pleased at finding $10. It was topic for conversation a good part of the day. I’d ask people, “Want to see the really pretty leaf I found today?” Unsurprised that I was acting like a childish idiot, to a person I think they all responded, “Sure!”

:-D

That ten bucks coulda been the last money a dear sweet old lady had for a week.
She was scraping together a few meagre provisions, going without heat in her tiny one bedroom flat…& you fucking just stole it from under her nose!!
I’m now way too upset to order pizza & drink beer…whimper

^^ that’s okay. Your beer glass was half empty, anyway.

:-P

Nowt to do with me sucker, my glass is always full.

Delight in finding! I found two five dollar bills yesterday! Ha, weird, huh?

ironic giggling

Well, is it the ten dollar bill I lost? :) Just because of my own nature, finding a ten dollar bill would include a sense of sadness that whomever lost it, may have been someone who really needed it, maybe to feed their kids that night. That would take any joy out of finding it for me.

Losing a ten dollar bill, would make me frustrated at my own irresponsibility. Plus, ya lose ten bucks.

I found a five dollar bill in my garden the other day. I love it when my money tree loses its leaves. Not to change the subject.

@ibstubro – that was my $10—it fell out of my pocket when I was taking out my car keys.

loosing gives me thoughts of failure finding gives me thoughts of luck and concern for the owner… I would rather not lose $10 instead of finding $20.

I get a lot more joy out of finding a $10 bill – serendipity! doo-dah! than the disappointment of losing $10.

Once when I was in high school I found a wet twenty dollar bill in the gutter on the way to school. Oh it was joy….

It would really depend on how badly I needed money. If I was broke, with no relief in sight for the near future, I’d break down in tears over either incident.

If I was flush, as I am now, one would be, “Crap! I lost $10.” The other would be “Cool! There’s $10 on the ground.” Not a very strong emotion either way.

I’d be pissed off if I lost some money.

When I was younger I used to throw quarters on the ground by the shopping mall and make some kids day. Now when I buy something from a vending machine I leave a quarter for the next person.

I do that too….drop random coins. :)

I think I’d probably leave it right where it was in case the person who dropped it came back for it. I might also be leaving it for someone who needed it more than I did.

There have been times in my life when finding ten dollars would mean having enough to eat that week. I’m happy not to live that way now, but I haven’t forgotten.

^^Precisely my point earlier. I made a joke of it, but in truth i’d have either handed the cash to a member of staff, or put it in a charity tin.
Finders keepers doesn’t always apply.

I still remember when my father found 320 dollars in a park.

He wasn’t working at the time and said God had divined he find it. That anyone carrying that much cash out in the woods didn’t actually need it and would never find it. I was actually the person that found it. And was quite upset as he had chosen not to work, and this was against all values he taught me. He then proceeded to blow it on junk food and a dinner out and some lousy touristy items. We were on a road trip at the time.

I still feel bad about losing a $20 bill that I had received for Christmas when I was 15 years old, and that was 55 years ago.

I don’t remember finding money, although I probably have.

I’d feel really bad about losing the money, because I’m broke, and that might mean the difference between putting some gas in my car, or no gas.

On the other hand, if I found the money, I’d try to track down the owner. I’ve found large bills and wallets and even a ring and have taken them into the nearest place of business to have the proprietors help find the person. On 2 occasions I drove across town to return wallets.

I’ve never lost or found a ten Dollar bill.

Ten dollar notes on the other hand…

I’m at a point on my life that I wouldn’t even notice losing $10 although there was a time in my life when it would have been devastating.
I’m still have a “Woo Hoo!” moment when I find money in the laundry, especially if it’s more than a dollar.
It’s amazing how often that had happened in the 20+ years since I quit smoking. I never found money when I needed it for smokes.

I just remembered that when we went camping this summer, my 8 year old nephew found a total of 15 cents, not all at once, on about 5 separate occasions, and he felt so lucky. It was sweet. I guess when people camp, they pull off their clothes with abandon and their pocket money goes flying. He also found 2 rings. Nothing valuable, but he was pleased and kept going around saying, “My precious, my precious!”

Thanks, ALL who answered! I had a busy day at work.

For those of you that care, the bill I found was in THE lane of traffic, and wadded up. Not near a car or parking place. In any case, once lost, the condition of the owner of the money is no longer a consideration. If you only have $2 to your name, and you lose $2….

When you get small amounts you will definitely be delighted. You spend the amount happily and then forget it. So not much emotion involved, you will be happy for a day.
If I lose $10 I would be sad and it would haunt me for a couple of days. I would keep worrying I should have been careful. So naturally emotion is greater when you lose money.

@Kardamom , I’m going to have to start taking a metal detector with me when I go camping!

I’d rather find than lose but I can handle loss as part of the equation. Golf is teaching me not to dwell on the previous bad result;)

Welcome, DouDaw! Glad to see you here. :-)

Good to see you, bro! I’ll be pawsing about here so maybe we can chase a few cats together;)

I found $20 the other day! I was so excited! I can’t remember a time I lost $20, though. I would definitely be more upset if I lost it though, because I probably earned that money. Now that I’m up $20, though, it won’t be as bad.

Congrats, @dxs

I’ve lost and found little bits of cash—a found quarter here, a lost $5 bill there. I’ve never found enough to offset my dismay when I realized that I’d handed over to a cashier (and received change from) a $100 bill as if it had been a twenty. It had been a Christmas gift from my father-in-law, and I’d planned on using it for a small luxury item. I simply pulled out the wrong thing, and nobody noticed.

I’ve been very careful ever since, even though I seldom have a bill larger than a twenty in my purse.

@Jeruba It could have been worse. I was at Aldi last week and the customer (who new the checker and had been chatting with her) turned from boxing her groceries and said to the checker, “Look what you gave me.” She had been given a $100 bill for a $1. This is a checker that exudes “I’m too good for this job.” I’d have been sorely tempted to keep the $100.

A worse mistake for the cashier, perhaps, but the customer might have gained $99, while I lost $80.

@Jeruba OH! Sorry, I had read it to mean you were given change for the $100.

Well, that does bite!

THAT WAS MY $20 @dxs!

@Dutchess_III Your cut from your pimp? ;-}

@Dutchess_III FINDERS KEEPERS!

@ucme….WHAT??? HOW INSULTING! Do you think I’m so dumb I need to have a pimp? You think I can’t figure it out for myself?? Apologize.

@dxs…I’m calling the FBI. They will dust for finger prints and DNA and THEN you will be in trouble!

I’m sorry…that you’re only worth twenty bucks :-}

Silly. I had, like 465 of them. Just that one got away.

465? Sheesh, they gonna bury you in a Y shaped coffin sista!

Yeah, how long did it take to turn 930 tricks, @Dutchess_III??

@Dutchess_III Not if I spend it before they’re at my door! Plus, who cares you have 464 others anyway. I only have one!

@ibstubro It was from just one. I am THAT good. Now, we shall change this line of questioning! My fluther others can’t believe I got myself into this….

Now you’re playing on my sympathies @dxs. Oh. Alright. You can keep it. You’re lucky it’s Christmas time. Sniff. I’ll wait 50 years then come to collect the interest.

@Dutchess_III Well, it takes a mighty engine to pull a train

:-D

Okay, I’ll stop.