This Is Your Brain On The Poor Analysis

Why People Who Escape Poverty Retain Poor Spending Habits Growing up in poverty has a significant effect on the brain. While poverty affects many aspects of the brain processing, spending habits are impacted which affects quality of life. Occasionally, those in poverty make it out. Despite their newly acquired higher socioeconomic class, their quality of life can still be affected by poverty. This is because people who grew up in poverty continue their impulsive spending habits, even when they move into the middle-class because poverty leaves a lasting impression on the human brain. Poverty has an immense effect on how the human brain develops. In Erika Hayasaki’s article “This Is Your Brain on ‘Poor’”, she points out

While he uses plenty of research to back up his argument, he shares a strong excerpt that quotes a person’s comment on an article he found on the topic. This emotive quote argues, “I make a lot of poor financial decisions. None of them matter, in the long-term. I will never not be poor, so what does it matter if I don’t pay a thing and a half this week instead of just one thing?… Poverty is bleak and cuts off your long-term brain. It’s why you see people with four different babydaddies instead of one. You grab a bit of connection wherever you can to survive. You have no idea how strong the pull to feel worthwhile is. It’s more basic than food” (Thompson). This excerpt helps to understand the mindset of a person who lives in poverty. More so, Thompson argues that the Marshmallow study of the 60s is not great for determining patience, and that patience is not as black and white. He takes his argument away from money and brings up waiting 90 minutes for a train, or trying to lose weight. What happens when the train does not come after 90 minutes, or you never lose a pound it is natural to give up in this situation (Thompson)? The same applies to poverty, at what point do you give up on saving money to get out of poverty and accept that this is just how it

This leads to question of what can be done to help. If giving money to those in poverty will nothelp them escape poverty, and even if it does it is unlikely to change their habits, what will? Many people believe literacy and higher education are the answer to this problem, and while she does not disagree bell hooks has another idea, “Since many individuals who are poor, disadvantaged, or destitute are already literate, reading groups could be formed to educate for critical consciousness, to help folks rethink how they can organize life both to live well in poverty and to move out of such circumstances” (Greene and Lidinsky 488). She believes that critical thinking and more of an education on life solves some of the problems that come with growing up in poverty. An understanding of how poverty affects the brain will lead to an understanding of why those who grew up in poverty will continue impulsive spending habits even if they have managed to escape poverty. This understanding will lead to a greater, and broader education not only for those who can afford a formal education but also to those who live in poverty, to better their own and other’s