How Early-Life Resource Scarcity Influences Self-Confidence and Task Completion Judgments

Chiraag Mittal, Juliano Laran and Vladas Griskevicius

Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2020, vol. 5, issue 4, 404 - 414

Abstract: This article details how resource scarcity in childhood influences adult consumers’ self-confidence and judgments of how long it will take them to complete tasks. Findings show that people who grew up in poorer environments estimate longer task completion times when facing threats. This effect is driven by self-confidence, as people from poorer backgrounds become less self-confident in the presence of a threat. By expanding on this finding, the article shows that the effect is driven by people from poorer backgrounds expecting worse luck under threat. We end with a discussion on the implications of our findings for understanding consumer psychology and behavior among those who experienced resource scarcity during their childhoods.

Date: 2020
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