Surprising Benefits for Those Who Had Tough Childhoods:
Sarah also credits her upbringing for giving her the observational skills of a master spy. She can sense when people are hiding something from her, and her reading of the power dynamics in any room comes as if by instinct. “I can see how people stand in relation to each other in an instant,” she says. “I can see where fear is coming from, where openness is coming from.” The skills needed to navigate her turbulent childhood appear to serve her well as an adult.
As an adult, though, Steve has proven to be highly flexible, with a willingness to take significant risks with little hesitation. He is sure that his upbringing has helped him through rough career patches. When facing big questions—where to work or how much to invest in a relationship—he has a high tolerance for ambiguity, for living in that in-between stage in which one does not know whether success or crushing failure awaits.
Growing up in an environment that’s constantly in flux, she says, may make people “more aware of and responsive to changes in the environment.” In the lab this means subjects may be quicker to perceive that they have been given wrong instructions to a computer game—and to change their behavior accordingly. “This would have profound implications,” Bianchi says. It means that people who are used to being able to rely on rules and to trust instructions—such as those who grow up in more stable environments—may stick with the rules even in the face of negative results. Meanwhile, those from stressful backgrounds may be quicker to explore other possibilities and stumble upon novel solutions.
“I had no difficulty doing this,” she says. “I counted on the permanence of nothing in my life except my ability to meet the challenge of change.”