Shame is more common among people who have financial difficulties and is often accompanied by behavior that actually can perpetuate poverty. For example, money is spent on status symbols instead of basic necessities, and people have less social contact. And so a vicious circle of poverty ensues. This is discussed in the research of Arnoud Plantinga for his dissertation “Poor Psychology: Poverty, Shame, and Decision Making,” which he defended on Friday February 1 at Tilburg University.