Title
The Effect of Psychological Scarcity on Health Decisions of Rural Residents in China: Preliminary Results
Author
Zhu, H. (TU Delft Applied Ergonomics and Design; Loughborough University)
Liu, E. (Southwest Forestry University)
You, Fangzhou (Loughborough University)
de Bont, Cees (Loughborough University)
Gruber, Thorsten (Loughborough University)
Dong, Hua (Brunel University)
Melles, M. (TU Delft Applied Ergonomics and Design) 
Contributor
Melles, Marijke (editor)
Date
2024
Abstract
Economic studies have shown that living in poverty may produce a subjective feeling of scarcity, which affects people's cognitive functions and decision-making. Understanding this mechanism could inform healthcare designers on designing inclusive health interventions by considering the psychological scarcity and limited cognitive resources of impoverished individuals. We conducted a psychological experiment to test the impact of psychological scarcity on cognitive function and health decisions of rural residents in China. We randomly assign participants to two financial scenarios (hard vs. easy) with the technique of priming to induce their immediate financial worries. Then we measure cognitive function using Raven’s Progressive Matrices and uncover their decision-making priorities with a budget allocation task. 301 participants finished the study and 264 were included in the main analysis. The results show that both immediate financial worries and cumulative poverty have negative effects on participants’ cognitive performance. Responses to scarcity could lead to attentional focus on limited resources, thereby neglecting long-term health consequences, particularly for the lower income group. Based on the findings, we suggest a number of human factors design considerations that are critical to successful healthcare design.
Subject
Cognitive function
Health decision-making
Health intervention
Psychological scarcity
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:33b5a5a9-4302-48f9-b804-a6f5a365af77
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32198-6_13
Publisher
Springer Nature
Embargo date
2024-05-05
ISBN
978-3-031-32198-6
Source
Convergence: Breaking Down Barriers Between Disciplines
Series
Springer Series in Design and Innovation, 2661-8184, 30
Bibliographical note
Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.
Part of collection
Institutional Repository
Document type
book chapter
Rights
© 2024 H. Zhu, E. Liu, Fangzhou You, Cees de Bont, Thorsten Gruber, Hua Dong, M. Melles