An Exercise in Uncertainty
Jamie – Clinical and Developmental Psychopathology
Empathy, understanding and poverty—that's what An Exercise in Uncertainty is all about. These are issues that Jamie has dealt with in her personal life as well as during her Master’s programme in Clinical and Developmental Psychopathology. Together with her classmates and students from other psychology programmes, she came up with a 'game of life' that lets you experience common stressors of poverty. It’s a real empathy booster.
We all have a certain image of poverty, but do we really know the extent of it?
In An Exercise in Uncertainty, you take on the perspectives of a family experiencing poverty. During this 60-minute experience, you make challenging financial, emotional and social decisions for you and your family. Do you buy a cake or a present for your son’s birthday? Do you pay for your daughter to go on a school trip? And what if you need to save money—do you cancel your rental contract, insurance or the gas, water and electricity? Every choice has consequences. And do you have enough money at the end of the day to feed your family? By participating in An Exercise in Uncertainty, you learn about the challenges that people in poverty encounter every day and you experience the stress that comes with it firsthand. This way, you can realize that the experiences of people in poverty are more relatable than you think.
Do you also want to change your world?
Related studies
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Psychology
Why do people lash out at relief workers during emergencies? How can you help someone who no longer feels life is worth living? -
Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE)
In what kind of world do we want to live? How might societies be organised to foster fairness? What kinds of challenges do democracies currently face? -
Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology
During the bachelor's in Cultural Anthropology at VU Amsterdam, you will learn to understand the world by looking through the eyes of another. -
Philosophy
What do we really know? Does the world really work the way we think it does? In what does just differ from unjust? -
Liberal Arts and Sciences
Do you have broad interests and perform well in multiple subjects in school? Are you motivated and do you feel at home in an international environment?