Poverty, not trauma, affects cognitive function in refugee youth: study (2019) • Hacker News Board

Re: Poverty, not trauma, affects cognitive function in refugee youth: study (2019)

#21

Post by bobisbob » Tue, Apr 14, 2020, 8:57 PM UTC

downerending wrote: post #13

JordanFarmer wrote: post #7

Oh great, another study. Thinking for 2 minutes... The same applies to non-refugee people living in poverty. This study shows absolutely nothing new (not already known). And does not state a few things that would make it appear foolish. 1. The impoverished are usually the ones who end up as refugees in the first place. 2. Poverty is highly generational. 3. The impoverished are generally lower IQ/cognitive/resourceful…

> Oh great, another study. Have to admit, that did make me laugh.

Hah! Thanks, I see it now too.

Re: Poverty, not trauma, affects cognitive function in refugee youth: study (2019)

#22

Post by threatofrain » Tue, Apr 14, 2020, 9:02 PM UTC

ngold wrote: post #4

Imagine being so poor you can't concentrate on what tomorrow is. That is what being poor does to you. It robs you of thinking.

Or it's too hot or cold because you don't have temperature controls, so you could lose a few months of studious productivity per year.

Re: Poverty, not trauma, affects cognitive function in refugee youth: study (2019)

#23

Post by 6510 » Tue, Apr 14, 2020, 9:08 PM UTC

ngold wrote: post #4

Imagine being so poor you can't concentrate on what tomorrow is. That is what being poor does to you. It robs you of thinking.

Imagine having such a shit life that you best move on without looking back. The brain will adapt and stop feeding you that garbage that is your memories. Everything you wanted to be doing hurts when you see others do it. I don't know how scientific it is but I think woman want to have babies. Eventually just seeing one makes a painful experience. If only you could suppress association, turns out you can.

Re: Poverty, not trauma, affects cognitive function in refugee youth: study (2019)

#24

Post by 6510 » Tue, Apr 14, 2020, 9:10 PM UTC

johnnyAghands wrote: post #12

I hope data like this can help society in ridding this disease -- poverty is a disease. Looking at the results and anecdotal evidence it feels like this is obvious.. but the fact of the matter is unless you've been through it, it's very unlikely you can truly appreciate the magnitude of the results. I hope studies like these and the changing demographics of power (with respect to age and race) will start focusing on…

Its being surrounded by other poor people who produce fresh drama every day. Horrific drama.

Re: Poverty, not trauma, affects cognitive function in refugee youth: study (2019)

#25

Post by 6510 » Tue, Apr 14, 2020, 9:12 PM UTC

Hermel wrote: post #6

But trauma is what increases their likelihood of committing crimes later in life, according to an excellent paper in AER (?) I recently read but can’t look up right now. :)

Yes! And it also makes for the kindest most generous people.

Re: Poverty, not trauma, affects cognitive function in refugee youth: study (2019)

#26

Post by claudiawerner » Tue, Apr 14, 2020, 9:12 PM UTC

BurningFrog wrote: post #8

Then again low cognitive function leads to poverty. Do they try to disambiguate that at all?

It would be surprising (to me, anyway) if the case is that the low cognitive function of war-affected Syrian youths is the cause of their own poverty.

Re: Poverty, not trauma, affects cognitive function in refugee youth: study (2019)

#27

Post by dcolkitt » Tue, Apr 14, 2020, 9:31 PM UTC

claudiawerner wrote: post #26

BurningFrog wrote: post #8

Then again low cognitive function leads to poverty. Do they try to disambiguate that at all?

It would be surprising (to me, anyway) if the case is that the low cognitive function of war-affected Syrian youths is the cause of their own poverty.

Intelligence is highly hereditable[1]. Intelligence is also highly correlated with earning potential, in middle-income Western Asian nations[2]. (It's correlated everywhere, but I cite that specifically because the study in the link was carried out in Jordan.)

Therefore it's highly likely that high IQ refugee children, have high IQ refugee parents, who are earning a higher household income after they resettle into their new country. For example a doctor from Syria could likely retrain as a doctor in Jordan. Statistically speaking his kids are probably more intelligent than someone who was a janitor in Syria.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritability_of_IQ#cite_note-6 [2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01602...

Re: Poverty, not trauma, affects cognitive function in refugee youth: study (2019)

#28

Post by Ghjklov » Tue, Apr 14, 2020, 9:39 PM UTC

threatofrain wrote: post #22

ngold wrote: post #4

Imagine being so poor you can't concentrate on what tomorrow is. That is what being poor does to you. It robs you of thinking.

Or it's too hot or cold because you don't have temperature controls, so you could lose a few months of studious productivity per year.

This is hugely underrated. My room's poorly insulated so when it's hot, it's like a microwave in here and when it's cold, I can feel it to my bone (I remember almost crying some nights in 2018 because it was so cold). There's no central heating and the AC is outside my room and doesn't reach my room at all. When it was cold, I would stay in bed longer. Then I wouldn't be able to spend longer than 5-10 minutes sitting at my desk before going back to under a blanket. When it's hot, I would feel so incredibly lazy and drained of energy and ultimately do nothing except lie on the floor hoping for better days. Now that I have a fan and a small space heater, things are a lot better.

Re: Poverty, not trauma, affects cognitive function in refugee youth: study (2019)

#29

Post by Ghjklov » Tue, Apr 14, 2020, 9:46 PM UTC

ngold wrote: post #4

Imagine being so poor you can't concentrate on what tomorrow is. That is what being poor does to you. It robs you of thinking.

I've been there. Once you start thinking to yourself that there is no long term future ahead of you, the kind of choices you make becomes almost like a sick joke. Buy some fruit and vegetables to eat so that you can feel nourished and live a long life, or eat some feel good salty sugar loaded fast food because you have no fucking future anyway? Study and gain employable skills or play video games right now because you're going to die homeless next month after you can no longer pay rent due to a pandemic?

Re: Poverty, not trauma, affects cognitive function in refugee youth: study (2019)

#30

Post by aabeshou » Tue, Apr 14, 2020, 9:48 PM UTC

johnnyAghands wrote: post #12

I hope data like this can help society in ridding this disease -- poverty is a disease. Looking at the results and anecdotal evidence it feels like this is obvious.. but the fact of the matter is unless you've been through it, it's very unlikely you can truly appreciate the magnitude of the results. I hope studies like these and the changing demographics of power (with respect to age and race) will start focusing on…

I think that "disease" is a misleading term, because it makes it sound like an act of god or nature. I'd say it's more like a moral evil. Because there are people in power who have the ability to eradicate this, simply by paying their workers more, or allocating government money to public services rather than to tax cuts for the rich, but they don't. They push austerity, they exploit greedily, and those are deliberate human acts of selfish evil.

I'd say that the global implicit and explicit ideology of "greed is good" and "might makes right", as well as the tendency of our systems towards nearly boundless concentration of resources and power in the hands of few, is the real disease.