Effects of Resource Scarcity on People’s Sense of Control

Acquisition of resources is vital for any individual’s survival and well-being. Failure to successfully harness resources from the environment is a threat and is undesirable. However, consistent access to resources is not a trivial task because availability of resources has been irregular since the dawn of human evolution (Chakravarthy & Booth, 2004). Even the modern life is rife with inconsistencies in resource availability. Not only does the economy continue to be characterized by periods of boom and bust, but there is a considerable inequality among people for access to resources at any given time. So, how do resource scarcity threats affects consumers’ everyday lives and their control beliefs? For example, do they feel that they are in charge of their lives during such threats or do they feel that they are helpless? Might these beliefs drive their financial impulsivity behaviors? Drawing on life history theory, recent work indicates that resource scarcity cues lead people to respond in divergent ways as a function of their childhood environments (Griskevicius et al., 2013). In the present work, we add to this growing body of work by investigating the effects of resource scarcity on people’s perceptions of control. We hypothesize and provide evidence that resource scarcity cues lead individuals from relatively poorer childhood backgrounds to feel that they have less personal control. Consequently, this psychological sense of decreased control facilitates preference for smaller sooner rewards and task persistence. Conversely, we show that resource scarcity cues lead individuals from relatively wealthier childhoods to feel that they have greater personal control. This psychological sense of increased control facilitates their willingness to wait longer for rewards and to persist more on a demanding task.