TY - JOUR
T1 - The effects of low socioeconomic status on decision-making processes
AU - Sheehy-Skeffington, Jennifer
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2020/6
Y1 - 2020/6
N2 - Low income groups are often criticised for making decisions that harm their long-term life outcomes. This article reviews research that attempts to understand these decision-making patterns as a product of adaptive responses to the situation of low socioeconomic status. It proposes that low income contexts present socioecological cues concerning resource scarcity, environmental instability, and low subjective social status, which trigger a regulatory shift towards the present and the tuning of cognitive skills and focus to address immediate needs. These shifts in psychological processes lead to decisions that are rational in the proximal context of socioeconomic threat, but may hinder the achievement of more distal goals.
AB - Low income groups are often criticised for making decisions that harm their long-term life outcomes. This article reviews research that attempts to understand these decision-making patterns as a product of adaptive responses to the situation of low socioeconomic status. It proposes that low income contexts present socioecological cues concerning resource scarcity, environmental instability, and low subjective social status, which trigger a regulatory shift towards the present and the tuning of cognitive skills and focus to address immediate needs. These shifts in psychological processes lead to decisions that are rational in the proximal context of socioeconomic threat, but may hinder the achievement of more distal goals.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.07.043
DO - 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.07.043
M3 - Review article
C2 - 31494518
AN - SCOPUS:85071778191
SN - 2352-250X
VL - 33
SP - 183
EP - 188
JO - Current Opinion in Psychology
JF - Current Opinion in Psychology
ER -