Effects of Poverty
Purpose: In this assignment, you will consider how situations like poverty might cause, be caused by, relate to, or moderate the psychological phenomena we have discussed in class.
Background: In Chapter 12, we learned about stress and the influence it has on people’s health. Being in poverty or having low income is a risk factor for increased stress. In this assignment, you’ll think more about how experiencing poverty might influence many of psychological processes we’ve talked about in class.
Directions for this assignment:
You will first complete the game, Spent, in which you make financial decisions over the
course of a hypothetical month.
Follow this link: http://playspent.org/html/
Keep track of the decisions you make in the game. I recommend taking notes by
the day.
You will write a paper in which you:
a. (1 paragraph) Reflect on how the game affected your decision-making and feelings. Be sure to answer the following question:
i. Which were the two most difficult decisions you made? Why?
(2 paragraphs) Discuss how the conditions of poverty might influence two
psychological phenomenon we’ve discussed so far in class. You can use your textbook or outside articles to support your points, but make sure you cite them in APA format with a reference section.
(1 paragraph) Finally, discuss how findings from WEIRD—Western, Educated, Industrial, Rich, and Democratic—samples, used frequently in psychology research, might overlook the psychological experiences of people experiencing poverty. Make sure to cite any references you use.
