Everyone knows the belief that a person's thoughts and mood shape their reality. Supposedly, by tuning in to the positive, a person can solve all their problems, including financial ones.
Scientists decided to find out whether this is really the case and whether a person’s well-being depends on his mood and thinking.
The first to test this theory were researchers from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.
The results of this work were published in Scientific Reports.
In short, the difference in wealth cannot be explained by the special actions of poor or rich people.
The experts focused on the behavior patterns and thought processes of low-income people.
In total, almost 5,000 people from 27 countries were surveyed.
Their decision-making ability was assessed on a 10-point scale.
The scientists were interested in the respondents’ attitudes towards giving up the desire for immediate enrichment, re-evaluating personal qualities, high employment, and other issues.
The answers received were compared with those given by rich people to similar questions.
It turned out that the train of thought was approximately the same for both the rich and the poor.
The only difference was in the desire to obtain wealth immediately.
In this case, poor people were willing to give up even greater benefits in the future, just to get rich now.
The researchers concluded that people's low incomes cannot be explained by any particular thought process or financial illiteracy.
