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Can poverty be attributed to the personal choices and actions of those experiencing it, or is it a result of social injustice and economic inequality? Recent findings in neurobiology suggest that growing up in poverty can influence one’s emotional traits, personality, and decision-making abilities even before an individual is able to fully take control of their own life.
Rutger Bregman, a young historian, and thinker stated in a TED lecture that poverty is not caused by a lack of personal character, but rather by a lack of financial resources. Inequalities in society, which often result in some individuals having greater access to necessities such as education and clean water, have long been a natural part of human social hierarchies. These inequalities often manifest as social classes defined by various characteristics that can vary across time and culture.
Inequality and the belief in economic self-regulation have contributed to the perception that poverty is the fault of those experiencing it, who are often viewed as lazy, making poor decisions, and lacking the ability to work. This neoliberal ideology, exemplified by Margaret Thatcher’s statement that poverty is a character flaw, has contributed to the stigmatization of poverty.
There is debate about the accuracy of Thatcher’s assertion, with some proponents of a liberal government that does not interfere with the economy and others supporting socialism, in which the government regulates economic processes for the purpose of promoting social justice. However, recent developments in our understanding of the brain may shed new light on this issue.
It is becoming more apparent that poverty is a result of personal flaws. A cycle is created in which poverty leads to changes in brain function and personality, leading to poor decision-making and exacerbating poverty. These findings have increased support for universal basic income, which redistributes wealth from the wealthy to those in need. This idea, previously mainly supported by socialists, is now also being considered by conservatives and is being seriously discussed at the World Economic Forum. In India, a version of universal basic income is being implemented through the distribution of loans and is believed to have the potential to stimulate economic growth and reduce inequality.
What to call poverty
There are two main ways of defining it. The World Bank defines the level of absolute poverty, or the minimum amount of money needed to sustain a basic standard of living, as around $2 per day. This threshold, however, does not account for variations in inequality and does not necessarily consider those living slightly above it as wealthy. An alternative method of measuring poverty is relative poverty, which looks at a person’s inability to access goods and resources available to others in society. This approach, known as “deprivation,” takes into account the gap between an individual’s circumstances and those of more financially secure individuals.
We need to use the second definition of poverty, understood as the inadequacy of life and consumption to the socially accepted standard, in order to understand how it affects the brain because in this case we get a clearer and more realistic picture instead of dry and rather conventional numbers.
Relative poverty in highly developed economies can look innocuous, as inaccessible travel or prestigious education while a decent food basket and even some surplus clothing are available.
In developing countries, a scarce resource for the poor might be, for example, water, as it is on the African continent. But there is one thing that all people in the deprivation zone of any economy have in common: a sense of their own isolation.
Imagine walking through a hypermarket. A clean tiled floor, glass display cases of refrigerators, shelves full of cookies and cheeses, daylight lamps brightly illuminating oranges and apples – nothing out of the ordinary, right?
Now imagine that a kilogram of apples costs $100, oranges – $135, a piece of cheese weighing 300 grams can be bought for about $80. In general, it’s even worse than at the airport – and there are no other prices for kilometers around, and your salary is still the same. You begin to look at food differently and think most of all not about the taste of the food, but about the fact that you can’t afford it. Each new shelf makes you hungry, and each new price tag makes you give up your desire.
And that’s just lunch. What about the rent? Buying new shoes to replace the one pair that’s already worn out? Maybe you owe someone? If you’ve tried hard enough, you’ve just been stressed out thanks to your own imagination. So, poverty is, first of all, a constant, out-of-control stress.
How stress affects the body and brain
Stress is a natural response to challenges and changes in our environment, and it activates the body and brain to adapt to new circumstances. Stress can be triggered by a variety of situations, such as escaping danger or working extra hours, and it plays a role in successful adaptation by affecting the immune system, metabolism, hormones, and brain neurotransmitters. Stress can be an indicator of the body’s ability to adapt to new conditions.
Stress hormone
Stress activates the limbic system, which triggers the release of specific hormones, especially cortisol, a member of the glucocorticoid group, secreted by the adrenal glands. It increases blood pressure and glucose levels, this is associated with the need for increased nutrition of the cells. Protein breakdown is accelerated (to get the necessary “food” quickly) and fat synthesis (to make reserves while there is something to store). Sensitivity to sex hormones decreases under the influence of glucocorticoids: stress “dampens” libido, because the moment of struggle for life is clearly not the best time for reproduction.
Changing the way genes work
Glucocorticoids have such a powerful effect on the body that they can change the way genes work. Genetic information is inherited and “for life” unless you have edited your own gene set with modern technology. However, nature has its own way of “programming” – epigenetic. By placing special chemical tags on DNA molecules, the organism can make serious changes in the work of genes – for example, to simulate the absence of gene information. In this case, it, figuratively speaking, hangs the label “Not to be read”. So, glucocorticoids have the ability to place such labels. This means that periods of stress change the genetic instructions by which the body develops, builds up, and functions. Gene expression is transformed differently depending on conditions, but it is clear that both acute and chronic stress physically changes our bodies and brains.
Changes in brain function
There are several major areas in the brain associated with the stress response.
Glucocorticoid sensitivity was first discovered in the hippocampus, the area largely responsible for cognitive function and memory. Under stress, cells are destroyed here – while learning increases the hippocampus even in adults and the elderly.
Under the influence of glucocorticoids, the neural connections in the median area of the prefrontal cortex, which plays a role in planning, cognition, control of actions and emotions, and overall conscious behavior, are reduced. This can result in inflexibility in cognitive abilities, with flexibility being more useful in calm situations and clarity and straightforwardness being more important in times of stress. At the same time, the number of connections in the orbitofrontal cortex increases. This region, which is not well understood, is believed to be involved in adaptive learning and motivation, and an increase in connections may be necessary for maintaining alertness and quickly adapting to new reward mechanisms.
The amygdala, part of the emotion-forming limbic system, works very intensively under stress, and if a person stays in this state for a long time, it hardly ever leaves active mode. This is associated with increased anxiety in particular and emotional reactivity in general.
The dangers of prolonged stress
The brain’s stress response mechanism is well adapted to sudden and rapid changes: it allows to activate the body to most effectively implement a “hit or run” strategy. However, this mechanism does not work in a situation of constant prolonged stress. After all, it was formed at a time when the main stressors were crop failure and predator attacks. Our ancestors could survive these momentary adversities and return to a stable state.
The body’s ability to adapt to even the harshest conditions becomes a disadvantage in modern times when stress is prolonged. This can result in the body completely rebuilding itself to maintain balance, leading to the normalization of temporary limitations in cognitive function, anxiety, and impulsivity that were once necessary for survival. Chronic stress has been linked to poorer health and increased mortality. Constant stress also impairs our ability to focus, make plans, control our actions, and make important decisions, as it affects the part of the brain responsible for long-term planning and control. Research has shown that poverty, as a type of stress, can have a similar restructuring effect on the brain.
The impact of poverty on brain formation during childhood
Children, especially those living in poverty, are highly susceptible to the negative impacts of environmental factors on brain development. These environmental influences, such as the emotional state and character of speech of those around the child, nutrition, and access to toys, all contribute to the formation and function of the adult brain. Genetics also play a role in brain development, but environmental factors, including exposure to toxic substances, poor nutrition, and drug and substance abuse by parents, can significantly disrupt this process. Children living in poverty may also experience additional stressors, such as the parents’ hard work or frequent job changes, regular food shortages, limited access to necessary medications, unemployment, and homelessness, which can further hinder brain development.
According to neuroscience, an “impoverished environment” is one in which the brain does not receive sufficient stimuli for proper development. This type of environment, which may be characterized by a lack of space and limited access to toys and opportunities for movement and play, can result in a thinning of the neural layer of the brain. This means that in an impoverished environment, there is a reduced likelihood of nerve cell growth and formation of new connections, and an increased likelihood of existing connections breaking down compared to a more enriched environment.
Not only an enriched physical environment but also communication with significant adults is very important for the maximum development of a child’s brain potential. After all, speech and language are the most important external factor in the formation of higher mental functions.
The study found that by age 4, a child from a highly educated family hears an average of 45 million words, a child from a working family hears 26 million, and a child living on welfare hears only 13 million.
According to data obtained by American scientists, the brain volume of family members with an income of 1.5 minimum standards is 3-4% smaller, and for children living below the poverty line, this lag reaches 10%. Poor financial circumstances affect the frontal lobe, which controls attention, emotion regulation, and learning processes, the temporal lobe important for speech acquisition, and the hippocampus, which allows for the processing and memory of information. Approximately 20% of the responsibility for the low achievement of children from poor and destitute families is attributed by researchers solely to the environment, which slows brain maturation.
The mother’s stress state affects the functioning of the infant’s brain even in the womb. At a molecular level, such children lose self-control mechanisms and, as they grow, become more impulsive and prone to bad habits and nervous disorders than their peers. Long-term observations have shown that adults whose childhood was spent in poverty and destitution also have increased amygdala activity and underdeveloped frontal cortex, even if their financial situation has improved. This means that they are still excessively impulsive, experience anxiety over minor issues, react sharply to stress and have insufficiently flexible cognitive strategies.
It is often more difficult for people from poor families to control their emotions – as well as those who suffer from depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic disorders.
The harmonious development of the prefrontal cortex and limbic system plays a key role in decision-making, goal-setting, and the ability to achieve those goals, as well as in the formation of self-control skills – in other words, in the development of the qualities that we associate with social success and economic well-being. People who grow up under stress and constantly experience a sense of helplessness develop an external locus of control – a sense of the world in which they have no influence on their own life and are prone to delegate responsibility for it to others or to external circumstances.
The impact of poverty on quality of life in old age
The natural aging of the body does not necessarily entail the deterioration of cognitive functions. Today we can’t fight old age as an oxidative process – but we know how to improve the quality of life of older people many times over. The most important factors for brain health at this age are good blood circulation and a balanced diet. However, apart from these, of great importance is the so-called cognitive reserve – the sum of the brain’s intellectual work.
Self-education, learning new skills, and any intellectual activity in general – the more we load the brain with such work, the more active and “younger” it is.
And the more active it is, the better it compensates for the loss of cells caused by age-related changes. Social connections are also a very important component of this brain capital: elderly people who have friends and spend their leisure time in society do not deteriorate (or at least deteriorate much slower) their cognitive functions, their brain matter retains a rather high density, and they make more efficient decisions than their lonely peers.
It is obvious that elderly people living in poverty do not have access to social leisure, good nutrition, amateur sports, or self-education, because they are isolated from society, separated by a glass wall of material poverty, and have problems even with meeting basic needs and receiving medical assistance. Their brain functions much worse under the influence of constant stress, rather than in old age.
Recall your surprise when you look at a group of ninety-year-old tourists from western senior boarding houses: they move, look different, and there is interest and understanding in their eyes all because their income allows them to load their brains and nourish their bodies.
Poverty is not just stress
People with low incomes lose up to 14 points of IQ when they have to make decisions about serious financial expenses. Experiments conducted by Indian scientists show that the same person thinks differently during periods of poverty and wealth. The cognitive abilities of farmers who almost starve before the harvest season and then receive a solid profit were checked at two points: maximum financial gain and minimum. It turned out that, when having difficulties with money, they solve tasks worse, including planning tasks. Researchers emphasize that the problem is not so much the stress itself, but that the head of a person in need is overloaded with a huge number of small calculations: where not to spend, where to save, etc. It is assumed that there is a certain gross brain throughput capacity – and it is limited. Therefore, the more worries, the worse higher mental functions work.
“Cognitive overload caused by financial difficulties can make it difficult for a poor person to not only manage their finances, obtain an education, and think strategically, but also to raise their children and shape their brains to overcome poverty. On the other hand, affluent parents may find these tasks easier due to their ability to ask leading questions, involve their children in decision-making, listen to their desires, allow them to explore, and teach them to control their impulses for long-term rewards. However, research shows that financial hardship can physically prevent individuals from making sound and reasonable decisions. As a result, poverty can be passed down from generation to generation through brain structure and epigenetic traits.”
Our brain is plastic: the environment affects it not only in childhood but throughout life, although not as intensively.
Growing up in poverty, one is able to change the way his brain works through neuro-management and training – but this is very difficult to achieve without transforming the environment around him, making it friendlier, more full of possibilities, and stimulating education.
And while training the brain is in the realm of personal responsibility, changing the environment and eliminating enormous inequalities is clearly a collective task. Because of discoveries in the field of neuroplasticity today, it should not be seen in the context of charity, but in terms of social necessity and the common good.
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