Poverty Reduces Brain Power

A new study has found that a lack of money could cause a drop in your IQ. It’s been found that our cognitive capacity can drop if we’re under financial stress.

Poverty and the all-consuming fretting that comes with it require so much mental energy that the poor have little brain power left to devote to other areas of life, according to the findings of an international study published on Thursday.

The mental strain could be costing poor people up to 13 IQ (intelligence quotient) points and means they are more likely to make mistakes and bad decisions that amplify and perpetuate their financial woes, researchers found. – Reuters

The study looked at a number of situations where people are faced in financial difficulty such as Indian farmers who only receive income once a year. They have to borrow money and live on very little leading up to harvest but have significant money once they receive the proceeds of their annual harvest. The testing a month before and a month after harvest showed significant difference.

The research also focused on shoppers at a mall in New Jersey in the United States.

Researchers discovered that financial stress made a far greater difference than other kinds of stress in producing a reduced ability to make sound decisions.

Do you find financial stress adversely affects your ability to think or make difficult decisions?

If only I could find someone to slip me a few million dollars I would prove just how clever I could be.

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