When a person visualizes poverty, homeless/penniless people begging for food or money is often brought to mind. Do people beg because they lack options or do they beg because it provides an immediate reward? Studies have shown that rats with higher impulsivity will choose the immediate reward, even if the long term reward is greater (1). This is contrary to the normal behavior of rats to maximize their reward. Because of impulsivity, the animals lack the ability to invest in their future (in this case, the investment is time). So could it be that people are poor because they lack the ability to plan and save? Saving money requires you to abstain from spending it. Instead of impulsively buying trivial items now, you need to be able to use your money in the future to buy items of importance, such as a house or insurance. So individuals who misuse their money are less likely to have it. Take certain people during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The U.S. government issued $2,000 debit cards to allow the victims to purchase aid at his/her discretion. While many people used their cards for food, shelter and clothing, a small group used their cards for things such as vacations, nights at a strip club, etc.
Even in a time of need and disaster, those people chose to use the aid for trivial, temporary pleasures. These people were more focused on enjoying the present than their own survival. Education is another are that requires a fairly large investment. Beginning when you are young, school will consume years of your life. I’m in my 14th year of schooling and I’m not finished. While it seems ridiculous to dedicate so much time, most attend school because of the assurance that your life will be better with a college diploma. Statistics support this idea. People with high school diplomas will make, on average, 65% more than people without one. People with college diplomas will make 72% on top of that. While some might not be able to attend college because of costs, education up to high school is paid for by the government. Yet kids will still drop out of high school, even facing the major earnings discrepancy. Is it possible that young adults are incapable of seeing the future advantages of schooling and desire the immediate reward of having a job? If this is the case, then impulsivity is manifesting itself in a self-destructive manner.
However it’s possible that impulsivity is not the direct cause of poverty, just that it is more devastating in poor circumstances. It has been shown that impulsivity has a higher chance to cause juvenile delinquency in poorer neighborhoods. If this is the case, then the environment during development would have the biggest effect on an individual’s outcome. Perhaps impulsivity matters less in wealthier people because they have the resources to overcome their deficit, whereas it is just another hardship for the poor.
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Source
1. Adriani W, et al. Cognitive impulsivity in animal models: Role of response time and reinforcing rate in delay intolerance with two-choice operant tasks. Neuropharmacology 2010; 58: 694-701.
