Considering the many children around the world that live in financially scarce conditions, it is of importance to know the consequences with regard to cognition. Life history theory suggests people...Show moreConsidering the many children around the world that live in financially scarce conditions, it is of importance to know the consequences with regard to cognition. Life history theory suggests people growing up in these scarce circumstances might develop different ways of adapting to this environment. This study looks at the influence of childhood financial scarcity on cognitive performance, when a current mindset of financial scarcity is activated. Specifically, this research is focused on determining performance on inhibition and cognitive switching tasks for people with different scarcity backgrounds and mindsets. In order to test this, people were questioned about their childhood. Then, half of the participants was instructed to recall a scarcity-related memory, while others recalled a neutral memory. Finally participants were presented with a cognitive task, which measured either inhibition or cognitive switching. It was expected that in a current scarcity mindset, people that had a scarcity background would perform lower on inhibition, but higher on switching. According to the results, neither childhood scarcity, current scarcity mindset, nor the combination of the two, were significant predictors of performance on the cognitive tasks. On these grounds, further research is needed to determine the relation between scarcity and cognition.Show less