People’s awareness that life is finite may push some to work harder, accumulate wealth and pursue professional success, according to research into how people respond to the idea of death.
Many people spend long hours working to earn money, support their families and achieve their desired standard of living. Some take on multiple jobs, pursue further education, seek new business opportunities or expand their investments, even when they already have enough to meet their basic needs.
The problem is not ambition or hard work itself, but the endless pursuit of success that can leave people with little time to enjoy what they have achieved.
Research by Philip Cozzolino and colleagues, published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin in 2004, examined how different ways of thinking about death influence people’s behaviour.
The researchers found that simply reminding people of death could increase materialistic tendencies in some cases. However, reflecting more deeply on mortality, particularly in ways that encouraged people to consider what truly mattered in life, could lead to more caring and less self-centred behaviour.
The desire for social status is another factor that can drive people to pursue wealth and professional success. In many societies, people are judged by their occupations, salaries, cars, homes and business ventures.
For many, the knowledge that life will eventually end does not diminish their desire for wealth. Instead, it can strengthen their pursuit of money, security and visible signs of achievement.
Psychologists explain this partly through terror management theory, which examines how people cope with the fear associated with knowing that they will eventually die.
The theory suggests that awareness of mortality can motivate people to seek meaning, security and a sense that their lives matter. For some, this may mean accumulating wealth, acquiring property, building a reputation or attaining a respected position in society.
A 2000 study by Tim Kasser and Kennon Sheldon, published in Psychological Science, also examined the relationship between reminders of death and materialistic aspirations.
In one experiment, some participants were asked to write about their own death, while others wrote about an unrelated subject. Those reminded of death expressed stronger desires to have more money and accumulate possessions over the following 15 years.
The findings suggest that awareness of mortality can sometimes intensify the pursuit of material wealth rather than encourage people to place less importance on it.
Early life experiences may also influence this behaviour. Someone who grew up in poverty or experienced severe hardship may work particularly hard to earn money because they do not want to return to those circumstances.
Another factor that can sustain the pursuit of wealth is the tendency for satisfaction from achievements to fade over time.
This is known as hedonic adaptation — the process through which people become accustomed to positive changes in their lives, causing the happiness initially associated with those changes to diminish.
As a result, some people continually seek new achievements or compare their possessions and lifestyles with those of others, creating pressure to keep earning and acquiring more.
The consequences of excessive work can be serious. A 2023 report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) found that more than one-third of workers worldwide regularly worked over 48 hours a week.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and ILO reported that an estimated 745,000 people died in 2016 from stroke and ischaemic heart disease associated with working at least 55 hours a week.
The findings highlight the importance of balancing professional ambition with personal wellbeing, as the pursuit of wealth and success can come at a significant cost when work consistently takes priority over health and quality of life.
