http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Poverty+lowers+brain+power+making+harder+figure+ways+escape/8849250/story.html
Recently, Mike S. posted a personal piece on intelligence and future job
security. He holds the view that those without at least 120 I.Q. will
have difficulties finding good work. More recently, I read Canadian
stats suggesting the joblessness rate for university grads is only 1.7%
lower than for high school grads. The reality of poverty affecting
intelligence has come up before, but this was in the morning paper. The
study finds that intelligence levels very much appear to be
circumstance-related, and not fixed. Though a better system of
assessment would more carefully validate creative abilities, old
assessment tools are in need of revision.
*Natalia*
Poverty lowers brain power, making it harder to figure out ways to
escape: study
By Sheryl Ubelacker, The Canadian Press August 29, 2013
TORONTO - Dealing with poverty takes up so much mental energy that the
poor have less brain power for making decisions and taking steps to
overcome their financial difficulties, a study suggests.
The research, published Thursday in the journal Science, concludes that
a person's cognitive abilities can be diminished by such nagging
concerns as hanging on to a place to live and having enough money to
feed their families.
As a result, there is less "mental bandwidth" left over for education,
training, time-management and other steps that could help break the
cycle of poverty, the researchers contend.
"Previous accounts of poverty have blamed the poor for their personal
failings, or an environment that is not conducive to success," said
Jiaying Zhao of the University of British Columbia, who led the study,
conducted while she was a graduate student at Princeton University.
"We're arguing that being poor can impair cognitive functioning, which
hinders individuals' ability to make good decisions and can cause
further poverty," she said.
The study had two parts. In the first, about 400 people at a New Jersey
mall were randomly selected to take part in a number of standard
cognitive and logic tests. The participants' annual family income ranged
from $20,000 to $160,000, with a median of $70,000.
Subjects took the computer-based tests after being presented with a
hypothetical financial problem that they would later have to solve: how
they would come up with the money to pay for having their car fixed when
the cost was either $150 or $1,500.
With the lower amount on their minds, those with low incomes fared as
well on the tests as better-off participants. But when the amount was 10
times higher, low-income subjects performed far more poorly on the
tests, said Zhao.
On average, a person preoccupied with money problems showed a reduction
in cognitive function equivalent to a 13-point drop in IQ or the loss of
a night's sleep.
"It's a big jump," she said of the dip in IQ. "It pushes you from
average (intelligence) to borderline (mental disability)."
In the second study, the researchers went into the field to test their
theory in a real-life situation --- with about 460 sugarcane farmers in
54 Indian villages who earn all their yearly income at the time of the
annual harvest.
"That creates interesting dynamics because in the months before the
harvest, they're really poor, they're running out," Zhao said. "Whereas,
in the months right after the harvest, they're rich.
"So you can literally look within the same individual at how he or she
performs when poor versus when rich."
The researchers found that farmers showed diminished cognitive
performance before getting paid for their harvest, compared to after the
sugarcane crop was gathered in, when they had greater wealth.
They said these changes in cognitive abilities could not be explained by
differences in nutrition, physical exertion or stress.
"So the very context of not having enough resources impedes your
cognitive function," Zhao said. That reduces a person's mental ability
to address elements that could help them break out of poverty, for
instance, a higher level of education, a better-paying job and enrolment
in social programs to help attain those goals.
"You are simply unable to notice those things when you are preoccupied
by poverty concerns."
The fallout from neglecting other areas of life can exacerbate already
trying financial woes, said co-author Eldar Shafir, a professor of
psychology and public affairs at Princeton.
Late fees tacked onto unpaid rent and other bills or a job lost because
of poor time management can make an already-tight money situation worse,
Shafir said in a statement. And as people become more impoverished, they
tend to make decisions that perpetuate their financial hardship, such as
excessive borrowing, he added.
The researchers suggest that services for the poor shouldn't
"cognitively tax" them. Positive measures could include simpler aid
forms, more guidance for receiving assistance, and more flexibly
structured training and educational programs.
"When (people living in poverty) make mistakes, the outcomes of errors
are more dear," Shafir said. "So, if you are poor, you're more error
prone and errors cost you more dearly. It's hard to find a way out."
Dennis Raphael, a professor of health policy and management at Toronto's
York University , said the findings are consistent with previous
research on the effects of a lack of "attentional resources" among the poor.
"The stuff is concrete, it's biological and it has consequences,"
Raphael, who was not involved in the study, said Thursday. "The good
news is it draws the attention of people and it points out that these
things are real and that they're not a result of lifestyle choices.
"So it has the potential for placing these individuals and group
difficulties into a broader perspective."
The downside of the paper is contained in the authors' recommendations
that "services for the poor should accommodate the dominance that
poverty has on a person's time and thinking ... so that a person who has
stumbled can more easily try again," he said.
"It draws attention away from the broader public policy and societal
issues that many argue are setting the stage for these kinds of
problems," including low wages, poor job security and an inadequate
social safety net.
From:
http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/class/Psy301/Salinas/09Intelligence.htm
*Gardner's Frames of Mind*
Howard Gardner (1983) proposed a theory of independent /multiple
intelligences/, originally seven of them:
1. Linguistic: /abilities to use vocabulary, do verbal analysis,
understand metaphors, and comprehend and produce verbal material/
2. Musical: /understanding and expressing oneself through music and
rhythmic movements or dance, or composing, playing, or conducting music/
3. Logical-Mathematical: /involves numbers and computing skills,
recognizing patterns and relationships, timelines, ability to solve
different kinds of problems through logic/
4. Visual-Spatial: /involves visual perception of the environment,
ability to create and manipulate mental images, and the orientation
of the body in space/
5. Bodily-Kinesthetic: /physical coordination and dexterity, using fine
and gross motor skills, and expressing oneself or learning through
physical activities/
6. Interpersonal: /understanding how to communicate with and understand
other people and how to work collaboratively/
7. Intrapersonal: /understanding one's inner world of emotions and
thoughts, and growing in the ability to control them and work with
them consciously/
*C. Sternberg's Triarchic Theory*
Robert Sternberg (1985) proposed in his /Triarchic theory/ that there
are three forms of intelligence: */analytical/*,*/creative/*and
*/practical/*.In Sternberg's views current intelligence testing does not
test all three forms of intelligence.He holds that current psychometric
tests only appreciably tap /analytical//intelligence /which allows an
individual to quickly break down problems and be able to see
solutions.This form of intelligence also consisted of numerous
subcomponents which enabled this analytical ability, but the key is that
they all serve the process of analyzing problems. While people high in
this form of intelligence can break down problems they do so from the
basis of their acquired knowledge. They may not necessarily be good at
creating new ideas or knowledge /Creative intelligence/involves
synthetic thinking, the ability to put together knowledge and
understanding in new and intuitive ways. Often, individuals with the
highest conventionally measured IQs are not good at this form of
thinking.And people with high levels of creative intelligence, such as
artists, are often unidentified by conventional IQ tests because there
are not currently any tests that can sufficiently measure the attributes
involved in creating new ideas and solving new problems. In /practical
intelligence/is basically related to street smarts or common sense.It
involves the ability to apply creative and analytical intelligence to
everyday situations. Those high in practical intelligence are superb in
their ability to succeed in any setting. Even if they are limited in
their creative and analytical intelligence, they are able to use these
skills to their best advantage. In the end, Sternberg reminds us that an
individual is not necessarily restricted to having excellence in only
one of these three intelligences. Many people may have integrated all
three very well and even have high levels of all three intelligences.
Gardner came to his point of view because he had come to consider
standard tests or other assessments used to measure IQ to be
inconclusive. He argued the IQ number did not predict or reflect school
outcomes or success in life. Gardner holds each individual has varying
levels of these different intelligences, and this accounts fro each
person's unique cognitive profile. In a sense, comparing his point of
view to Spearman's, Gardener would say there is no */G/*,*//*only
*/S/*'s and those */S/*'s are more than just a skill or ability, but an
independent form of intelligence unto themselves.
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