[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Your gut response to this question might be “yes”. After all, if you are financially strained to begin with, it makes sense that financial decisions are a bigger deal to you. If you were rich, you could rebound from a mistake more easily than someone who is financially living on the edge.
But how does someone measure will power? And how do you test for it across levels of wealth?[/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider size=”20″][vc_column_text]
You make ’em squeeze stuff
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Well, it turns out that the length of time a subject can squeeze a resistive hand-grip has been used as a proxy for cognitive control, which you can think of as related to will power. The longer someone can hold the grip without letting go, the more cognitive control they might have.
In one particular experiment¹, researchers looked at how long four groups of participants could squeeze said grips. Half the subjects were asked to make an economic decision first and then squeeze the grip. The other half were asked to squeeze the grip first and then make the same economic decision second.
Within each of these two groups, subjects were further divided into either “rich” or “poor” groups. The economic decision in all cases was whether or not they should buy a premium brand of soap that was on sale with a large discount.[/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider size=”20″][vc_column_text]
How long could they squeeze?
[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][mk_fancy_title style=”simple” tag_name=”h2″ border_width=”5″ size=”14″ line_height=”24″ color=”#1e73be” font_weight=”inherit” letter_spacing=”0″ font_family=”none” margin_bottom=”10″ align=”center”]Squeeze, then make economic decision[/mk_fancy_title][mk_skill_meter title=”RICH” percent=”100″ color=”#1e73be”][mk_skill_meter title=”POOR” percent=”100″ color=”#1e73be”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][mk_fancy_title style=”simple” tag_name=”h2″ border_width=”5″ size=”14″ line_height=”24″ color=”#1e73be” font_weight=”inherit” letter_spacing=”0″ font_family=”none” margin_bottom=”10″ align=”center”]Make economic decision first, then squeeze[/mk_fancy_title][mk_skill_meter title=”RICH” percent=”100″ color=”#1e73be”][mk_skill_meter title=”POOR” percent=”66″ color=”#dd3333″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_padding_divider size=”40″][vc_column_text]When it came to squeezing the grip first, there was no difference between rich or poor. They were able to squeeze for approximately the same length of time.
Rich subjects also squeezed the grips for the same length of time whether they squeezed the grips and then made the economic decision or vice versa.
[mk_call_to_action style=”default” text_size=”18″ font_weight=”inhert” text=”Rich or poor participants who squeezed before completing the decision task were able to hold on for about two minutes. Rich participants who squeezed after the decision task also held on for about two minutes. But poor participants who squeezed after the decision task held on for about 40 seconds less than the other three groups.” outline_skin=”#444″ outline_hover_skin=”#fff”][/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider size=”20″][mk_padding_divider size=”20″][vc_column_text]But when it came to the poor subjects who had to make the economic decision first, they were only able to squeeze the grips for about 66% as long as all the other groups. This suggests that if squeezing a hand grip is indeed a measure of will power or cognitive control, it diminishes for poor subjects but not for rich subjects after having made a certain type of economic decision making task.
One possible explanation is that depletion of cognitive control from making economic trade-offs is higher in less financially well-off people precisely because the relative trade-offs of similar economic decisions are higher when you have less money.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]1. Dean Spears (2011) “Economic Decision-Making in Poverty Depletes Behavioral Control,” The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy: Vol. 11: Iss. 1 (Contributions), Article 72. Available at:http://www.bepress.com/bejeap/vol11/iss1/art72 (Requires subscription)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]