You seem to discuss about a study I read a couple of weeks ago. From memory part of their argument is based on study made on indian labourers, hence you have definetely been lazy before criticising the study. I don't disagree with you btw, ime poor and hungry with the right mindset helps motivate a man outperforming others as I come from such a background and feel much less sharp now that I'm quite confortable, I also know quite many asians who did well to very well coming from very modest backgrounds, but most of those I know happen to be chinese tiochew, who really represent a very small minority even in China, often nicknamed the jews of China - yet they are very dominant economically in all South east Asia. But for the most part, poor people remain that way their whole life, and they look neither particulary smart nor energetic.
Maybe not directly related to the topic, but I strongly believe that it's much harder for one to become a good trader when success in trading is "a must" condition to make a living. Extra stress like that almost never is helpful and usually the opposite.
This link should give one a better look at the study, there are a bunch of magazines who commented and published excerts of the study - which reminds me that what I read a couple of weeks ago was one of those articles, not the study itself. Can't deny the way it's presented in the link below, the study is exploited through a liberal pov. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130829145125.htm
Good sleuthing. You found the exact study. Gist of the study is as follows: Poverty Reduces Brainpower Needed for Navigating Other Areas of Life The cognitive function, brainpower, and mental energy are all synonymous according to the research. According up the article: "Poverty and all its related concerns require so much mental energy that the poor have less remaining brainpower to devote to other areas of life, according to research based at Princeton University. As a result, people of limited means are more likely to make mistakes and bad decisions that may be amplified by -- and perpetuate -- their financial woes." "A person's cognitive function is diminished by the constant and all-consuming effort of coping with the immediate effects of having little money, such as scrounging to pay bills and cut costs. Thusly, a person is left with fewer "mental resources" to focus on complicated, indirectly related matters such as education, job training and even managing their time." The study talks about stress and says something interesting and counterintuitive: The mental tax that poverty can put on the brain is distinct from stress, Shafir explained. Stress is a person's response to various outside pressures that -- according to studies of arousal and performance -- can actually enhance a person's functioning, he said. In the Science study, Shafir and his colleagues instead describe an immediate rather than chronic preoccupation with limited resources that can be a detriment to unrelated yet still important tasks. "Stress itself doesn't predict that people can't perform well -- they may do better up to a point," Shafir said. "A person in poverty might be at the high part of the performance curve when it comes to a specific task and, in fact, we show that they do well on the problem at hand. But they don't have leftover bandwidth to devote to other tasks. The poor are often highly effective at focusing on and dealing with pressing problems. It's the other tasks where they perform poorly." The study seems to backup my hunch that poverty puts a person's brain on hyper-drive. That is probably why Hank and Gordon want to hire poor, smart, and hungry people. Incidentally, there is something important that the study left out. It doesn't show the effects of poverty on different races. This was a weird study. It concludes by saying that poverty begets poverty in perpetuity so the poor can't get out of poverty. I disagree with the conclusion. If you are dumb then you will not have the extra mental bandwidth to escape the draining effect of poverty on the cognitive function. But, if you are smart then you will have the extra mental bandwidth to overcome the draining effect of poverty on the cognitive function.
For those interested, here is the original study. It seems pretty well done. I suggest reading it in full before criticizing.
Kevin, thank you for the article. Could you be so kind to provide the Cliff Notes to the article? It's written in Jack Hershey style. Lol.
Argh, I freakin' wasted my time reading the "well done" article. It's basically the same shit as the article kindly provided to us by luisHK. The article kindly provided to us by luisHK IS the Cliff Notes to the full article. Here's my conclusion: These researchers cooked up some wild hypothesis regarding the effect of poverty on cog. function so that they won't be fired/laid off and get paid. My departing thought: Those who can, do. Those who can't, research. Now don't misunderstand me here. I am not saying that research is worthless.
You are describing a "do or die" situation. My departing thought: Those who can, do. Those who can't, die.
Yep. Odds are most just die. Of course, most of those who start think it won't be them. Survivorship bias at work. My point is: there probably are smarter ways to succeed in just about any field without putting yourself in severely stressful "do or die" condition.