people who are living in poverty can’t seem to get themselves out of it. Jiaying Zhao, a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia who has studied the scarcity mindset, notes, “The myth or public perception of poverty is that the poor are poor because they screwed up, because they’re inher- ently incapable, they lack patience, they don’t have self-control,” reports Canadian news outlet Vice. “But what we’re showing is that’s not true because just being poor itself, the context of scarcity, can make you perform worse.” Financial stress significantly challenges the cognitive system. The 2013 study suggested that poor individuals spend so much energy figuring out how to pay their bills that they have less men- tal capacity to think about how to improve their overall condition, which keeps them stuck in their financial situation—possibly making it worse. “The irony of scarcity is that you focus so heavily on prices, on budgets, that you actually neglect things that could help you,” Zhao states. “If we make things easier, if we alleviate these taxing procedures and burdens, then the people [have opportunity to] prosper and get out of this poverty cycle.” When a person suffers from chronic stress, such as the stress of poverty, the long-term pres- ence of cortisol can damage brain cells. Research indicates that poverty shifts a person’s focus and attention. And once thoughts about money emerge, they’re difficult to suppress. “The very lack of available resources makes each expense more insistent and more pressing. A trip to the grocery store looms larger, and this month’s rent constantly seizes our attention. Because these problems feel bigger and capture our attention, we engage more deeply in solving them,” write the authors of the 2013 study. WWW.CITYGATENETWORK.ORG MAY/JUNE 2019 11 Continued on page 14  Young children living in low socioeconomic households are probably not aware of the money troubles their parents experience. However, they do sense an overall tension in the household, which makes them apprehensive and tense, the APA says. Parents may be so focused on work and money that their children are emotionally neglected. So children in low­income households live in chronic stress. Growing up in this environment causes children to have under­ developed language skills, experience trouble forming memories, and are less able to hold on to information over time. They also experience less stimulation from toys and books because these cost money, putting them at a disadvantage from an early age. Because of this less­developed cognitive system, they are less likely to pursue or receive secondary education, which makes it much harder for them to change their socioeconomic status. “Together these findings suggest that people at the low end of the socioeconomic spectrum may be particularly vulnerable to a breakdown of their willpower resources. It’s not that the poor have less willpower than the rich; rather, for people living in poverty, every decision…requires self­control and dips into their limited willpower pool,” the APA says. A survey conducted by Bank of America Merrill Lynch showed that financial worries affect a person’s ability to function and focus, especially at work. ”The results suggest that the brain is less stressed when help is offered: Signals in the brain associated with calm decision­making were 21 percent higher when participants had more financial advice. Conversely, signals that indicate attention were 20 percent higher when the participants were not given any additional help, suggesting that these participants’ brains were working harder to process the information. So receiving assistance can make a big difference in a person’s perception of financial stress. The Never­ Ending Cycle Why breaking out of poverty is so hard