"January marks National Poverty in America Awareness Month, a time when we are reminded of the staggering realities of economic inequities in the United States and beyond. Poverty is often described in terms of numbers such as income thresholds, unemployment rates, and housing and food insecurity, but behind those statistics are human lives shaped not only by material scarcity but also by psychological constraints."
"One of the most overlooked tools in addressing poverty is imagination. Rosie Bingham Davis, past president of the American Psychological Association and counseling psychologist, has dedicated her career to illuminating the issues of poverty and the perceptions and stigma of those who live in deep poverty. I had the opportunity to discuss these issues with her on my podcast, Wellness in Today's World. She provided her lived experience of living in deep poverty and how it impacted her professional and personal life and the choices she made."
"We also talked about the issues of poverty and the idea behind her book, Rosie's Superpower: The Power of Imagination (2025). She argues that imagination is not a luxury reserved for artists or dreamers but a psychological resource that can help individuals and communities reframe their circumstances and envision new possibilities. Poverty Beyond the Numbers Living in poverty is not simply about lacking money. It is about the narrowing of choices, opportunities, and futures."
National Poverty in America Awareness Month highlights severe economic inequities and the interaction of material scarcity with psychological constraints. Imagination operates as a form of resilience that cultivates hope, fuels persistence, creativity, and problem solving, and helps people reframe circumstances to generate new solutions. Living in poverty narrows choices, opportunities, and futures, and scarcity can make dreaming feel indulgent or impossible. Without imagination, futures risk becoming repetitions of the present. Psychological perspectives link scarcity to cognitive burdens that limit planning, decision-making, and the capacity to envision pathways out of limitations.
Read at Psychology Today
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