People with higher socioeconomic status have lower emotional intelligence, especially at high levels of inequality

[C1500]

You're really emphasizing the point of the research about low social emotional intelligence, and you're strongly reinforcing the thesis of the article that discusses fundamental attribution error.

You are using a lot of big words from a study done by people with money, telling people without it why they can't have it.

Just because you eat beans 4 out of 7 days a week, doesn't mean you must flip a big mac your whole life. 95% of the people that lives in the USA can better themselves in some way be putting forth a bit of unseen to most people effort. That's not me putting down anyone. Its a slap to the face to anyone that worked their way up the ladder to sit a say that didn't work hard for it. I know a guy that came from nothing, abusive parents, just about failed school, had teachers tell him he would never amount to nothing. He is living good. You never go anywhere thinking you can't. Or as he says "Can't never did a damn thing".

if you’re unemployed, you recognize the hard effort you put into seeking work – but view others in the same situation as useless slackers.

Are they seeking work or seeking what they want to do? I have had jobs I didn't like until I could do better. We have petted people on the back until they are "to good" for a job then point out it must just be the life they was born into.

I don't know about "low social emotional intelligence" I know that if I live in a one horse town that I better find a career that I can use there, or plan to move somewhere that has what I want to do. I know if at the moment my bring home every two weeks is 500$ I better worry about my house payment and water and not netflix. I can I live without my phone and internet, not so much without food and a home. There are people that have a hard time getting that start and I think we should have things in place to help them, but they can't get it because someone who is too lazy is sucking their help.

I'm sorry you can call me any name you like, but these people running around with the newest iphone yelling about the rich keeping them down and can't live like they want is BS. It's really not that hard to half way mange money.

"The study's takeaway, according to Chetty and Hendren, is the environment one is raised in determines his or her economic mobility.

That's a racist line if I ever seen one. So a white boy raised in a meth house is determined to do meth? A black boy raised in a abusive household is determined to be a abuser? A Mexican raised in a household of brick layers is determined to lay bricks not be a CEO. Inky Johnson's story comes to mind. He worked for what he had. He didn't let his childhood define him, he let it push him.

the study found that only 4 percent of children from low-income families achieved a college education, compared to 45 percent of children from higher-income families.

Does that include Trade School? Where most people earn higher income then what I would think 50% of college degree net you with less debt. College ain't the be all end all thing the world has painted it to be.

 

[FLVOL_79]

Can we define poor in the United States?

I’ve asked this question before, but never got an actual answer.

Can only flush the toilet once a day to save $ on the water bill.

 

[FLVOL_79]

As previously mentioned it all starts with how a person is raised. This extends beyond socioeconomic status though. How one is raised can have an impact on their critical thinking skills, sexual partner preferences, self identity/esteem, tastes in food, etc. Its all basic conditioning.

Life is all about choices, so when a person isn't surrounded by people making good ones, they probably will tend to not make good ones themselves. Right or wrong is a pretty basic human concept thats been around for millennia and the fact that people still struggle with it shows there is a genetically linked intelligence (or lack there of) aspect to all of this.

If you are "poor" in America its almost certainly your own fault. Emulate those who are successful. Know when you are wrong. Dont be afraid of mistakes and learn from them. Always strive to improve.

Poverty is also a state of mind for many in that category. How many poor people do you know (I dont know any) who dont live in squalor? Its almost as if you are "poor" its ok to live in a filthy sh!thole, have zero pride in your appearance, your transportation, your hovel, your hygiene, etc.

 

[Orangeslice13]

I have to disagree. Just in my experience I guess. I can't speak for anyone else. My dad had kidney failure soon after I was born and could not work anymore and was on dialysis until he died. My mom had dropped out of school in the 8th grade and cleaned schools for a living and we barely made it by. I make really good money now and my wife is a RT. I paid to have my mothers house fixed up while building my own. [Plus if you could see my bad habit you would know its not cheap @Orangeslice13 knows] I wouldn't say being poor makes it harder to make a good living vs someone with money IMO. That's all about the person doing it. Poor isn't something that's taught. Lazy is something that's easily taught and hard to overcome.

I could not agree with you more…
Except….
I’d argue that is a hobby and not a habit.
We work hard and should spend it any way we see fit.

My mother was born a coal miners daughter in a town in Kentucky that had 1 stop sign and nothing else other than a company store. My father is from chattanooga but also from a poor situation. My He hitchhiked to UT. Where he worked one semester and went to school one semester. Sometimes it took 2 semesters of work to pay for the one semester of school. He was an engineer for TVA till he retired. My mother is still a VP of a fairly large real-estate company. They did well. The best gift they gave me was making me buy my own car and pay for my own school.
My cousin was kicked out of his parents house at 18 with 20$. Joined the military and used that to pay for his education at UT. He became a vet and found a way to outwork everyone else and now lives ocean front on Long Island.

The American dream lives. You just have to earn it.


On the flip side I can tell stories of wealthy kids that are now worthless adults.

 

[hog88]

Number one cause of being poor.

Lazy

I disagree, bad decisions early in life is what I would think is the number 1 reason.

 

[Orangeslice13]

I disagree, bad decisions early in life is what I would think is the number 1 reason.

I can look back at my life and find an unbelievable amount of lost money because of bad decisions. Fortunately I cleaned that up at about 38 years old.

 

[Orangeslice13]

Still make them. Just nowhere near as often

 

[Volaholic320]

So you are saying my boss who opened his shop in 92 while working two jobs to finance the building didn't have to work for it? I bet he feels real dumb for not just getting his parents to start it up for him.

I not going to sit here and say that money don't negatively change some people, but you are painting a ugly picture if you think every person that has wealth only got it because of a silver spoon.

That's the point, you demonize all successful people, (except rich dems) to make them feel bad for being successful. The people who write these articles couldn't function outside of academia. They need gov more than most

 

[AshG]

That's the point, you demonize all successful people, (except rich dems) to make them feel bad for being successful. The people who write these articles couldn't function outside of academia. They need gov more than most

You completely missed the point of the article and research, then.

 

[LouderVol]

People with higher socioeconomic status have lower emotional intelligence, especially at high levels of inequality

"The study authors point out that the small effects they found could end up having considerable consequences. For example, social issues like violence are more common in areas with greater inequality, and these issues seem to involve a lack of attending to others’ emotions and needs. “Perhaps one of the reasons that countries with lower inequality suffer less from these problems may be that their citizens are more attentive to the struggles of those around them,” the authors suggest.

So it's all about perception right? Seems like the natural conclusion of the studies wouldnt be that the rich think they are better than they are, and issues stem from that. But rather that the poor think they are worse off than they are. Especially as they use violence as the metric. Its typically poor on poor violence. Not rich on poor violence, which is what one would think is the result of low emotional intelligence in a system that places value in wealth.

 

[hog88]

I can look back at my life and find an unbelievable amount of lost money because of bad decisions. Fortunately I cleaned that up at about 38 years old.

Same here, after an unbelievable string of bad decisions I finally got a hard enough kick in the old ass.

 

[lawgator1]

Number one cause of being poor.

Lazy

Depends on your definition of poor and, conversely, your definition of rich.

For truly poor, like homeless level, it's often drugs or mental illness. For just bottom.of the rung but making it, it's often one parent situations and yes sometimes laziness.

For the truly rich, more often than not it's inherited wealth. For the inherently wealthy it's the benefit of parents who push and reward hard work in school.


The middle class is where the greater number of variables are, imo. But it's unlikely someone in the middle class will ever be super rich, but certainly possible with bad breaks they end up super poor.

Point is, the distance between middle class and super rich is incredibly far and decades apart, whereas the distance between middle class and dirt poor is a matter of months of bad breaks and poor decisions.

 

[C1500]

I can look back at my life and find an unbelievable amount of lost money because of bad decisions. Fortunately I cleaned that up at about 38 years old.

I feel you there. Oh the stuff that could have been had I been a tad wiser.

 

[hog88]

I feel you there. Oh the stuff that could have been had I been a tad wiser.

I try not to think about it, it would just piss me off.

 

[NorthDallas40]

I think it does start with the parents. Not their socioeconomic status as much in how involved they are in the development of their children. The “wanting better for their kids than they had” family values dogma. My father was career enlisted military, got out on disability. My mother never finished elementary school. But we weren’t poor, in fact I never did without anything I absolutely needed and always had a full belly. They both bettered themselves and instilled that same set of values in their kids. Achieve more than where you started. I was the first child from either of their extended families to get a college degree. And an engineering degree at that. And it’s completely because I had amazing wonderful involved parents instilling the values in me as a kid guiding me and putting me in a mindset to succeed.

It really is that simple. It’s the parents.

 

[volinbham]

You're really emphasizing the point of the research about low social emotional intelligence, and you're strongly reinforcing the thesis of the article that discusses fundamental attribution error.

what is the attribution error in the article/paper?

best I can tell is there isn't one - attribution wasn't tested. The variables are ones' socio economic status, their emotional intelligence level and their perception of the degree of inequality where they are. I see nothing where they measured any perceptions of WHY inequality exists or WHY a persons thinks another is poor or lower on the SES scale.


The thesis of the article is that SES is negatively correlated with EI in conditions where inequality is higher.

 

[NorthDallas40]

what is the attribution error in the article/paper?

best I can tell is there isn't one - attribution wasn't tested. The variables are ones' socio economic status, their emotional intelligence level and their perception of the degree of inequality where they are. I see nothing where they measured any perceptions of WHY inequality exists or WHY a persons thinks another is poor or lower on the SES scale.


The thesis of the article is that SES is negatively correlated with EI in conditions where inequality is higher.

I didn’t even read it but that sounds like a waste of time if all they did was examine the correlations between those three variables.

 

[volinbham]

You completely missed the point of the article and research, then.

I'm not trying to rag on you but it seems you missed the point too. What you consider to be it's main thesis doesn't jibe with the article contents and what the studies referenced actually measured/tested.

EDIT: this comment is directed at the originally posted article - disregard if talking about a different article.

 

[hog88]

I think it does start with the parents. Not their socioeconomic status as much in how involved they are in the development of their children. The “wanting better for their kids than they had” family values dogma. My father was career enlisted military, got out on disability. My mother never finished elementary school. But we weren’t poor, in fact I never did without anything I absolutely needed and always had a full belly. They both bettered themselves and instilled that same set of values in their kids. Achieve more than where you started. I was the first child from either of their extended families to get a college degree. And an engineering degree at that. And it’s completely because I had amazing wonderful involved parents instilling the values in me as a kid guiding me and putting me in a mindset to succeed.

It really is that simple. It’s the parents.

More than once I've heard someone get scolded for trying to be better than their daddy.

 

[volinbham]

I didn’t even read it but that sounds like a waste of time if all they did was examine the correlations between those three variables.

It's pretty common for academic research. Best I can tell from the linked article is the findings are that Emotional Intelligence is negatively correlated with Socioeconomic Status and that relationship is moderated by inequality level (sometimes measured as perceptions of it; others manipulated in an experimental design and possibly measured more objectively (the cross country comparisons)).

 

[KB5252]

I honestly believe everyone is right to some extent here. There is no one single factor, or most important factor.

I think anyone could end up poor, hell, I have been there myself. I've lived out of my vehicle, slept on couches etc. I believe tragic circumstances or very poor choices are the main reasons one becomes or is born into "poor". I also believe the only way you stay that way is either ignorance or poor choices.

 

[AshG]

what is the attribution error in the article/paper?

best I can tell is there isn't one - attribution wasn't tested. The variables are ones' socio economic status, their emotional intelligence level and their perception of the degree of inequality where they are. I see nothing where they measured any perceptions of WHY inequality exists or WHY a persons thinks another is poor or lower on the SES scale.


The thesis of the article is that SES is negatively correlated with EI in conditions where inequality is higher.

Fundamental Attribution Error was in a separate article I shared above in response to the weary trope that "The poor are just lazy or make bad choices, that's all."

 

[NorthDallas40]

More than once I've heard someone get scolded for trying to be better than their daddy.

What?!

 

[NorthDallas40]

It's pretty common for academic research. Best I can tell from the linked article is the findings are that Emotional Intelligence is negatively correlated with Socioeconomic Status and that relationship is moderated by inequality level (sometimes measured as perceptions of it; others manipulated in an experimental design and possibly measured more objectively (the cross country comparisons)).

What the hell is “emotional intelligence” exactly?

 

[NorthDallas40]

Fundamental Attribution Error was in a separate article I shared above in response to the weary trope that "The poor are just lazy or make bad choices, that's all."

I think they do make bad choices. However the choices they make are largely influenced by the values instilled on them by their parents, uncles, and aunts. And quite a few grandparents too.