Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Much evidence shows that people living in low socioeconomic conditions often engage in "short-sighted behavior". They seem to focus on meeting short-term needs and aspirations rather than long-term benefits and returns, such as investing less in education, saving too little, and borrowing too much. These choices may further deepen their disadvantage and cause them to fall into the trap of "low socioeconomic status-behavioral decision-making-low socioeconomic status". Why are people living in low socioeconomic conditions more likely to be short-sighted? Previous studies believe that low socioeconomic status shapes individual preferences and values and impairs self-control. These defects make them more likely to make irrational behavioral decisions. However, in recent years, researchers have pointed out that the seemingly irrational behavior of people living in low socioeconomic conditions is an adaptive response to a threatening environment. People who live in low socioeconomic conditions always face various risks and threats, such as resource scarcity, environmental instability and unpredictability, and a bad childhood environment. If the current demand is high and the future is uncertain, it is more beneficial to obtain the smaller benefits available at present than to wait for the larger returns in the future. Scarcity theory, construction level theory, and life history theory are three representative theoretical viewpoints that answer the mechanism behind the “short-sighted behavior” of the people who live in low socioeconomic conditions from the perspective of the interaction between individual and the environment. The psychological shift model integrates them from the perspective of threat, regards the "short-sighted" behavior of the people living in low socioeconomic conditions as the product of the operation of the general social and psychological mechanism, and points out that the psychological shift triggered by threat perception is the internal mechanism of low socioeconomic status affecting intertemporal choice. Specifically, the experience of living in low socioeconomic conditions induces a “psychological shift” in response to socioecological cues. At the cognitive level, they focus on things related to scarcity when facing the threat of scarcity. At the level of thinking, they represent events concretely and contextually when facing uncertain threats. At the behavioral strategy level, once the threat cues appear, people who experience low socioeconomic conditions in childhood may notice the threat faster and switch to the fast life history strategy. These psychological shifts lead to the occurrence of "short-sighted behavior". To attribute a more practical policy value to the psychological shift model, future research can be carried out from the following aspects: First, the research perspective that "short-sightedness" is the survival strategy of people living in low socioeconomic conditions in a threatening environment needs to be further popularized. This adaptive perspective more comprehensively and accurately describes the intertemporal choice process of people living in low socioeconomic conditions, reduces the stigmatization of people living in low socioeconomic conditions to a great extent. Second, the mechanism of poverty affecting intertemporal choice needs to be further studied. The novel and enlightening psychological shift model from the perspective of threat needs much empirical research to confirm. The multilevel relationship between low socioeconomic status and intertemporal choice in different development stages still needs to be discussed. Finally, “short-sighted behavior” intervention for people living in low socioeconomic conditions needs to be carried out widely and deeply. Based on the core mechanism of eliminating threats to reduce short-sighted behavior, future studies should combine the valuable experience accumulated in the process of poverty alleviation and the internationally agreed strategies that can significantly reduce the “short-sightedness” of the people living in low socioeconomic conditions. These actions may help develop an effective intervention program in line with China's national conditions, so as to provide scientific psychological paths for realizing common prosperity.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Having lower socioeconomic status is one of the most well-established social predictors of poor health. However, little is known about why some lower-class individuals maintain good physical health despite experiencing adversity. From a large number of empirical studies, researchers have found that psychological factors such as the “shift-and-persist” strategy can effectively protect the health of lower-class individuals in adversity and prevent them from developing certain diseases. The present study shows that in the midst of adversity, some individuals find role models who teach them to trust others, better regulate their emotions, and focus on their future. A role model is any individual who serves as an attachment figure and provides inspiration to a child and can be a parent, extended family member, or teacher. Over a lifetime, lower-class individuals with such role models develop an approach to coping with stress that helps them accept pressures and reappraisals (shift) while enduring adversity by maintaining a sense of meaning and optimism (persist). In contrast, among higher-class individuals, proactive efforts to cope aimed at eliminating stressors and the pursuit of future goals may be more effective, given such individuals' greater access to resources for engaging in preventive behaviors, resolving situations, and influencing outcomes. The “shift-and-persist” model proposes that for lower-class individuals, developing a way of life that values changing oneself in coping with pressure while insisting on enduring adversity with strength and maintaining optimism and hope for the future can reduce the stress response, thereby protecting one's health. Why can the “shift-and-persist” strategy effectively protect the health of the lower class? Researchers have explained how a “shift-and-persist” strategy can affect the health of the lower class in reference to physiology and behavior. Specifically, the approach balances adaptation to stress and persistence at the same time, changes the physiological pathway of stress, and inhibits the physiological stress response of the lower-class in the face of adversity. In other words, the “shift-and-persist” strategy reduces responses to stress, thereby reducing the acute physiological activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis. Over time, this prevents the development of the pathogenic process and ultimately slows pathogenic disease processes over the long term among lower-class individuals. Specifically, first, a “shift-and-persist” strategy can effectively reduce the repeated activation of the HPA axis among lower-class individuals and then play a protective role in health. Cortisol, the end product of the HPA axis, is one of the most widely used physiological indicators of psychosocial stress, and researchers often use it as an indicator of HPA axis activity. Second, a “shift-and-persist” strategy can effectively regulate the inflammatory process of lower-class individuals to reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases. Low-grade inflammation has been implicated in the pathogenesis and expression of several chronic diseases associated with aging. Lower-class individuals are also more likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking, sedentary lifestyles and following a high-fat diet. These unhealthy behaviors increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and cancer and of early death. Preliminary evidence shows that different dimensions of the “shift-and-persist” strategy can reduce the health-threatening behavior of lower-class individuals to reduce the risk of disease. In sum, the “shift-and-persist” strategy has drawn interest from researchers, its theoretical and practical value has been continuously examined, and it presents good development prospects. To address the problem of health poverty in a period of relative-poverty in China and better serve the health of lower-class individuals, future research can focus on the following aspects. First, research must be conducted in a longitudinal fashion to establish whether “shift-and-persist” strategies can predict health trajectories over time in children and adults. Second, from a multilevel and multipath perspective, studies must comprehensively investigate the mechanism by which a “shift-and-persist” strategy affects the health of lower-class individuals. Finally, future studies should vigorously develop intervention programs to promote a “shift-and-persist” strategy.
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