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The value of money: On how childhood economic resources influence value assessments later in life.

Stage 1 article

AuthorsGró EinarsdóttirAndré HanslaLars-Olof Johansson
Year2017
Item typeJournal Article

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CRSPPreregistrationStage 1 Manuscript

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AuthorsGró EinarsdóttirHansla ,AndréLars-Olof and Johansson
Year2018
VenueComprehensive Results in Social Psychology
Item typeJournal Article

We know that unlike Homo economicus, Homo sapiens is often influenced by allegedly irrelevant contextual cues when assessing value. However, only recently have individual differences in susceptibility to context effects been studied. We propose that individuals who grow up poor develop contextualized skills that protect them from blowing their budget and argue that stable value assessment is such a skill. We test this claim using six experimental paradigms of value assessments with ca. 1400 participants. We hypothesized that contextual cues have a stronger influence on the valuations made by the past rich compared to the past poor. Further, the theoretical foundation of this paper is based on two lines of influential research that have been criticized on methodological grounds. We therefore preregistered our study, improved interaction testing, and tested the replicability of previous findings. The results showed only anecdotal evidence that the past poor made more consistent valuations. Even though the past poor don’t seem to have a generalized ability for consistent valuations, we encourage a continued search for more specific and ecologically relevant skills essential for good money management that may have developed as a response to growing up poor.

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CRSPMultiple StudyStage 1 LinkedStage 2 Manuscript