On August 29, 2013, an article was published in Science, which states:
Poverty and all its related concerns require so much mental energy that the poor have less remaining brainpower to devote to other areas of life, according to research based at Princeton University. As a result, people of limited means are more likely to make mistakes and bad decisions that may be amplified by — and perpetuate — their financial woes.
Published in the journal Science, the study presents a unique perspective regarding the causes of persistent poverty. The researchers suggest that being poor may keep a person from concentrating on the very avenues that would lead them out of poverty. A person’s cognitive function is diminished by the constant and all-consuming effort of coping with the immediate effects of having little money, such as scrounging to pay bills and cut costs. Thusly, a person is left with fewer “mental resources” to focus on complicated, indirectly related matters such as education, job training and even managing their time.
In a series of experiments, the researchers found that pressing financial concerns had an immediate impact on the ability of low-income individuals to perform on common cognitive and logic tests. On average, a person preoccupied with money problems exhibited a drop in cognitive function similar to a 13-point dip in IQ, or the loss of an entire night’s sleep.
But when their concerns were benign, low-income individuals performed competently, at a similar level to people who were well off…
Norman Kurland, Center for Economic and Social Justice (www.cesj.org):
This article should call our attention on how poverty affects human competency. The point should seem obvious. But it’s a point that should be re-emphasized to all supporters of the Just Third Way, binary economics and Capital Homesteading reforms to be used in trying to persuade those who blame the poor rather than working to address poverty by changing the system through Capital Homesteading reforms.
Support the Capital Homestead Act at http://www.cesj.org/homestead/index.htm and http://www.cesj.org/homestead/summary-cha.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130829145125.htm
