心理学报2026，Vol.58Issue(2)：221-234,14.DOI:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2026.0221
贫困经历对儿童执行功能的影响:有限资源的损耗及其补偿
Poverty experience and children's executive function:Depletion and compensation of limited resources
摘要
Abstract
Poverty has always been a challenge for human society.For children living in poverty,improving and developing their abilities in childhood accurately is crucial for overcoming this fatalism.Despite the long-established negative effects of poverty,the underlying mechanism is still unclear.In contrast to traditional explanations that focus primarily on the disadvantaged environments or personality traits of the poor,this study focused on the mental processes required by poverty and provided initial evidence that short interventions could compensate for the depletion of poverty on Chinese children's executive function. Two studies were conducted within the framework of limited resource depletion,which encompasses both attention scarcity and self-depletion in cognitive processing.Study 1 aimed to investigate the specific impact of money scarcity on executive function in poor children.This was achieved by examining the effects of both money-related(scarcity)and non-money-related(normal)depletion using the classic paradigm of depletion.A total of 179 children(M=10.89,SD=1.45,55.30%boys)participated in this study.Half of the participants were from families in poverty registration or poverty alleviation relocation,and the other half were from a first-tier city in China.On the basis of these results,Study 2 was designed to explore whether four common compensations of self-depletion could counteract money-scarcity depletion among children in poverty and promote their executive function.A total of 180 children(M=11.36,SD=1.59,45.60%boys)whose families were identified as either poverty-registered or poverty-alleviation relocated participated.This study first primed a money-scarcity state,similar to Study 1.Four compensations(i.e.,money,candy,praise,and rest)were subsequently provided to simulate the depletion and recovery of mental resources in real world contexts. The findings of Study 1 indicated that the scarcity resulting from a money-related situation led to a distinctive depletion of executive function in children who had experienced poverty.This was attributed to a combination of diminished attention and self-control resources.Specifically,for children living in poverty,the scarcity-depletion group performed worse in terms of executive function than did the control group and the normal-depletion group.In contrast,children in the non-poverty group demonstrated no significant differences in inhibition control or cognitive flexibility between the scarcity-depletion and normal-depletion groups,and both groups performed worse than the control group did.The results of Study 2 revealed that not all conventional forms of compensation were effective in counteracting the depleted executive function observed in children with poor experience.Among the four compensation options,monetary and candy rewards were observed to counteract the depleted resources after scarcity depletion.These rewards were further found to facilitate the recovery of the three components of executive function,whereas resting for five minutes and praise rewards were unable to restore the expected original state of executive function. In conclusion,this study integrates and explains the significant role of limited resource depletion theory on executive function in children living in poverty.Furthermore,the temporary depletion effect of poverty on executive function in poor children can be compensated for by alleviating scarce resources or restoring self-control,which further explains the joint influence of attention and self-control resources in poverty depletion underlying the limited resource depletion framework.This study provides a novel approach to mitigate the adverse effects of poverty on children's executive function through brief interventions.Thus,by changing the accustomed thinking process,this intervention may effectively enhance poor children's executive function and alleviate poverty while also fostering intrinsic motivation and breaking the poverty cycle.关键词
贫困经历儿童/执行功能/稀缺/损耗Key words
children in poverty/executive function/scarcity/depletion分类
社会科学引用本文复制引用
蒋莹,明桦,张凤,任屹,梅刻寒,黄四林..贫困经历对儿童执行功能的影响:有限资源的损耗及其补偿[J].心理学报,2026,58(2):221-234,14.基金项目
国家自然科学基金(32300885,32071071,32260211),贵州省科技计划项目(黔科合基础-ZK[2023]一般275),教育部人文社会科学研究规划基金(18YJA190003)资助. （32300885,32071071,32260211）
