Poor people aren't stupid; bad decisions are from being overwhelmed, study finds

BIGG WILL
BIGG WILL Members Posts: 2,611 ✭✭✭✭✭
Being poor affects your ability to think, a new study shows. Those coping with severe financial stress don't have the mental bandwidth to deal with all of life’s troubles, a team of researchers reported Thursday.

They’ve done a series of tests that show when people are flush with cash, they can stop worrying and make better decisions. But having financial woes takes up so much attention, they often make poor decisions.

“When you are very, very focused on what you don’t have enough of, you do all you can do to get more of it, at the expense of other stuff,” says Eldar Shafir of Princeton University, who worked on the study published in the journal Science.

When people don't have enough money they're so focused on ways to get more that they don't make good choices, a new study has found.


IS this truth, or ? ?

Comments

  • goldenja
    goldenja Members Posts: 6,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2013
    I call ? . its too black & white

    Don't think a graduate from Princeton had to deal with such woes. I could be wrong but, its deeper than that.

    And what about all the rich people you hear about that make dumb decisions and are flat broke?
  • AZTG
    AZTG Members Posts: 7,598 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ? been making stuoid decisions since we were hunter gatherers b
  • texas409
    texas409 Members Posts: 20,854 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Its dummies in all walks of life
  • DOPEdweebz
    DOPEdweebz Members, Moderators, Writer Posts: 29,364 Regulator
    At the end of the day theres always someone making better decisions than you and can point at you calling you stupid. Its all relative. But I can see how bad situations can cause even worse decisions.
  • unspoken_respect
    unspoken_respect Members Posts: 9,821 ✭✭✭✭✭
    LOL they need a study for that?
  • Ajackson17
    Ajackson17 Members Posts: 22,501 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Poor people are not as educated nor have the financial power to get themselves out of their ruts. Then you have those who are above average intelligence that manage to get out and surpass those who with average intelligence who have never been poor. It's all about education and finances at the end of the day, cause there are extremely rich people with low morals and ethics.
  • Crude_
    Crude_ Members Posts: 19,964 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This is more of an issue of being uneducated or not knowledgeable as opposed to being poor.

    Uneducated or not knowledgeable doesn't always run hand and hand with being poor but one is usually always a by product of the other.

    You can give uneducated people monetary assets and they will be broke again more times than not because they don't have the intelligence to invest in things of value.

    Poor doesn't necessarily mean ignorant though some people are just victims of circumstance.

    Bad decisions by people have more to do with a lack of discipline and not being knowledgeable than they do with being overwhelmed.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Regulator
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • desertrain10
    desertrain10 Members Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2013
    Lol @ some of these responses

    Poor and rich people make bad decisions....the study isnt disputing this

    All the study is saying is that experiencing a prolonged period of financial stress can cloud your judgement leading you to make bad decisions, which makes sense. If your hungry and the rent is due, you arent going to be thinking straight at that point in time, generally speaking

    All I have to say is "duh" , tired of the argument that poor people are unintelligent or dumb and thats why they are poor. ? has no basis in fact. Stress in combination with poor nutrition, bad government policies, racism, household instability, etc is what keep people poor

    Reminds me of that study that revealed that exposure to ? ? in the ? is not as harmful to a child's health as being raised in poverty

  • Bussy_Getta
    Bussy_Getta Members Posts: 37,679 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I made poor decisions when I was poor, I make poor decision now with a steady cash flow.
  • playmaker88
    playmaker88 Members Posts: 67,905 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I hate "Studies" they should be bitchslapped for wasting money.. obvious ass ?
  • Ajackson17
    Ajackson17 Members Posts: 22,501 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I did not receive any GOATs I need to work harder.
  • Meta_Conscious
    Meta_Conscious Members Posts: 26,227 ✭✭✭✭✭
    lol@the belief that poor ppl r inherently stupid...
  • NIKE...
    NIKE... Members Posts: 3,742 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Your thread title was poorly structured so I will naturally assume you're poor as well.
  • Dupac
    Dupac Members, Writer Posts: 68,365 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ? will go through great leaps and bounds to escape accountability for ? .....it's truly amazing.....

    i mean i ain't saying everybody that's poor is poor because it's their fault.....

    but it's a lotta ? who are dealing with the consequences of their own actions.....or the actions of their parents....and ? like this will make them feel like they had no control over it from the jump, making the cycle continue forreal
  • Meta_Conscious
    Meta_Conscious Members Posts: 26,227 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Du_Du wrote: »
    ? will go through great leaps and bounds to escape accountability for ? .....it's truly amazing.....

    i mean i ain't saying everybody that's poor is poor because it's their fault.....

    but it's a lotta ? who are dealing with the consequences of their own actions.....or the actions of their parents....and ? like this will make them feel like they had no control over it from the jump, making the cycle continue forreal

    so we gonna ignore social injustice and deliberate efforts to maintain the current social order or nah?
  • BIGG WILL
    BIGG WILL Members Posts: 2,611 ✭✭✭✭✭
    NIKE... wrote: »
    Your thread title was poorly structured so I will naturally assume you're poor as well.

    Well, Im either poor, or I copied the same exact headline MSNBC used.

  • Crude_
    Crude_ Members Posts: 19,964 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Stopitfive wrote: »
    Du_Du wrote: »
    ? will go through great leaps and bounds to escape accountability for ? .....it's truly amazing.....

    i mean i ain't saying everybody that's poor is poor because it's their fault.....

    but it's a lotta ? who are dealing with the consequences of their own actions.....or the actions of their parents....and ? like this will make them feel like they had no control over it from the jump, making the cycle continue forreal

    so we gonna ignore social injustice and deliberate efforts to maintain the current social order or nah?

    While this is true in some cases a lot of people are where they are in life due to lack of knowledge and drive.

    As a Black man I knew I was born with a strike already against me, so I made it a point to prepare myself for life.

    Life isn't fair that's just the way it is.

    Unless you are White or born into a family of privilege nothing is generally handed to you.

    Every Black, Hispanic, and other none White American should know this.

    If you want better for yourself, your family, and your kids you going to have to bust your ass a little harder.

    Social injustices to maintain the status quo can hinder and discourage us but we hurt ourselves more when we get content with the struggle and don't use the skills we were born with.
  • can'tyoutell
    can'tyoutell Members Posts: 1,370 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This issue goes much deeper than anyone has touched on. There were IQ tests administered all over the world and they came to the conclusion that a wealthy nation was the result of high average intelligence and vice versa. A lot of class warfare is actually race warfare. Whenever white people bring up welfare and food stamps, and not wanting to pay for universal healthcare, they aren't using other white people as a reference point.

    Take it a step further and consider the book/documentary Guns, Germs, and Steel, which theorized that wealthy nations often had good farmlands and didn't have to worry about survival, which spurred growth and innovation. A lot of Africa on the other hand, survival was always a struggle because of poor farmland. People are still starving in Africa and other countries with poor farmlands. It's hard to develop a society that can't feed themselves.
  • Ajackson17
    Ajackson17 Members Posts: 22,501 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This issue goes much deeper than anyone has touched on. There were IQ tests administered all over the world and they came to the conclusion that a wealthy nation was the result of high average intelligence and vice versa. A lot of class warfare is actually race warfare. Whenever white people bring up welfare and food stamps, and not wanting to pay for universal healthcare, they aren't using other white people as a reference point.

    Take it a step further and consider the book/documentary Guns, Germs, and Steel, which theorized that wealthy nations often had good farmlands and didn't have to worry about survival, which spurred growth and innovation. A lot of Africa on the other hand, survival was always a struggle because of poor farmland. People are still starving in Africa and other countries with poor farmlands. It's hard to develop a society that can't feed themselves.

    But they had good lands and made due but a lot of west Africa is turning into desert though.
  • jono
    jono Members Posts: 30,280 ✭✭✭✭✭
    "Bad Decisions" are based the kind of choices available.

    We are discussed the poor but to really put it into perspective look at ex-cons. With a felony label their choices are minimized, as such the likelihood of them making another "bad decision" increases. It's cyclical in that way.

    Social injustice is the biggest issue. It limits choices and thus increases poor decision making.
  • CapitalB
    CapitalB Members Posts: 24,556 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Stopitfive wrote: »
    Du_Du wrote: »
    ? will go through great leaps and bounds to escape accountability for ? .....it's truly amazing.....

    i mean i ain't saying everybody that's poor is poor because it's their fault.....

    but it's a lotta ? who are dealing with the consequences of their own actions.....or the actions of their parents....and ? like this will make them feel like they had no control over it from the jump, making the cycle continue forreal

    so we gonna ignore social injustice and deliberate efforts to maintain the current social order or nah?

    u damn apologist. lol
  • desertrain10
    desertrain10 Members Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭✭✭
    At the end if the day people makes bad decisions on a daily basis ...rich and poor alike

    Money, however, provides a cushion for stupidity

    The question is should we provide jobs, a living wage and a strong, wide safety net for those fallen on hard times, or should we continue to cut social spending and let these people suffer
  • The Lonious Monk
    The Lonious Monk Members Posts: 26,258 ✭✭✭✭✭
    So their conclusion was that people who are under the gun are more likely to make bad decisions.

    I wonder how much money they spent coming up with that mindblowing discovery.
  • Gold_Certificate
    Gold_Certificate Members Posts: 13,228 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ? . They make bad decisions under pressure because they are stupid.