Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2023, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (2): 419-426.

Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Impact of Poverty Mindset on Intertemporal Decision-making: The Mediating Role of Analytical Thinking and The Moderating Role of Loss-gain Frame

Zhang Yanchi1, Tong Dandan1, Chen Chen2, Guo Yongyu3   

  1. 1 School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Key Laboratory of Behavioral and Mental Health of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, 730070 2 Pharmacy Department, Anhui Medical College, Hefei, 230601 3 School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210097
  • Received:2020-12-26 Revised:2021-07-25 Online:2023-03-20 Published:2023-03-20
  • Contact: Yongyu Guo

贫困心态对跨期决策的影响:分析思维与损益框架的作用

张彦驰1,童丹丹1,陈晨2,郭永玉3   

  1. 1 西北师范大学心理学院,甘肃省行为与心理健康重点实验室,兰州,730070 2 安徽医学高等专科学校药学院,合肥,230601 3 南京师范大学心理学院,南京,210097
  • 通讯作者: 郭永玉

Abstract: Specific psychological and behavioral patterns formed in poverty environment are important factors that hinder the poor from getting rid of poverty completely. According to scarcity theory, poverty would automatically capture attention of the poor, forcing them to continuously think about financial and cost issues, constantly weigh and compromise between different needs, which ultimately damages their cognitive function and executive control ability. When individuals use a large amount of psychological resources to regulate emotions and manage scarce economic resources, the psychological resources that he can use to initiate analytical thinking to deal with other tasks will be insufficient, causing them to rely on intuitive thinking during solving problems. Studies have found that reduced analytical thinking or relying on intuitive thinking would increase the time discount rate for intertemporal decision-making. Therefore, we can infer that poverty mindset would affect intertemporal decision-making by reducing the individual's analytical thinking. Individuals who rely on intuitive thinking to make decisions are more susceptible to framework, and the use of analytical thinking can effectively reduce the framing effect. Based on this, it can be inferred that loss-gain frame may regulate the relationship between poverty mindset and intertemporal decision-making. Two studies were conducted to explore the impact of poverty mindset on intertemporal decision-making, the mediation effect of analytical thinking and the moderation effect of loss-gain frame. Study 1 recruited 197 adults and manipulated the poverty mindset (yes vs. no) and frame (loss vs. gain). A multiple-choice question, asking participants whether they can raise a lot of money in a short period of time to deal with emergencies, and a short-answer question, requiring participants to write down 2 to 3 wishes that were difficult to realize due to lack of money, were used to induce poverty mindset. Loss-gain frame was manipulated through changing the expression of intertemporal decision-making tasks. The results showed that the interaction effect between poverty mindset and loss-gain frame was significant: poverty mindset significantly increased participants’ time discount rate under gain frame; poverty mindset had no significant effect on the time discount rate under loss frame. In study 2,we developed a poverty mindset questionnaire consisting of 12 items, and recruited 398 adults. All participants completed the poverty mindset questionnaire (measuring poverty mindset), the cognitive reflection test (CRT, measuring analytical thinking), the loss or gain frame intertemporal decision-making (measuring time discount rate). We analyzed the mediation effect of analytical thinking and moderation effect of loss-gain frame via SPSS macro PROCESS. Results were as follows: (1) poverty mindset significantly reduced analytical thinking; (2) analytical thinking played a mediating role between poverty mindset and intertemporal decision-making; (3) the mediating effect of analytical thinking was moderated by loss-gain frame. Analytical thinking, under gain frame, has a predictive effect on intertemporal decision-making. However, under the loss framework, analytical thinking has no predictive effect on intertemporal decision-making. The two studies consistently show that loss-gain frame has a moderating effect on the relationship between poverty mindset and intertemporal decision-making, suggesting that the proper use of the loss-gain frame may be an effective way to reduce the time discount rate of the poor. In addition, analytical thinking mediates the impact of poverty mindset on intertemporal decision-making, poverty mindset impairs the analytical thinking, which in turn leads to an increase in the time discount rate. During formulation and implementation of anti-poverty policies, the government should pay attention to the impairment of analytical thinking due to poverty mindset, and help the poor get rid of behavioral poverty traps by reducing their cognitive burden and improving their analytical thinking.

Key words: poverty mindset, analytical thinking, loss-gain frame, intertemporal decision-making

摘要: 本研究旨在探讨贫困心态对跨期决策的影响,以及分析思维的中介作用和损益框架的调节作用。行为实验(研究1)和问卷调查(研究2)的结果显示,有调节的中介模型成立:分析思维在贫困心态和跨期决策间起部分中介作用;损益框架在贫困心态和跨期决策间起调节作用;损益框架在分析思维和跨期决策间起调节作用。本研究可以为国家的贫困治理工作提供理论和实践指导,未来研究需进一步探讨贫困心态影响跨期决策的其他中介变量。

关键词: 贫困心态, 分析思维, 损益框架, 跨期决策