Scarcity acts as a mental burden that disrupts how people process information and make decisions (Mullainathan and Shafir in Scarcity: Why having too little means so much. Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2013; Mani et al. Science 342:976–980, 2013). In this study, we replicated Mani et al.’s (Science 342:976–980, 2013) experimental design to explore whether scarcity also taxes Colombian high school students’ mental bandwidth. In a lab-in-the-field experiment, we tested how 417 high school students from high and low socioeconomic status (SES) in Bogotá, Colombia, responded to different scarcity situations. Students were first presented with hypothetical scenarios of harsh or soft scarcity. Next, participants had to solve a series of tasks that measured higher cognitive functions (i.e. Raven’s Progressive Matrices, Cognitive Reflection Task and questions to assess their Delay Discounting value) and had to explain how they would solve the scarcity situation. As opposed to Mani et al. (Science 342:976–980, 2013), we did not find that scarcity taxed individuals’ mental bandwidth, neither their cognitive nor executive functions. We found that low-SES individuals, under the harsh scarcity condition, displayed more empathic attributes than high-SES individuals. Taken together, the results of this study show the importance of replication in different cultures and environments.

稀缺性是一种精神负担，会扰乱人们处理信息和做出决定的方式（Mullainathan 和 Shafir 在稀缺性：为什么拥有太少意味着这么多。Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2013; Mani et al. Science 342:976-980, 2013）。在这项研究中，我们复制了 Mani 等人 (Science 342:976–980, 2013) 的实验设计，以探讨稀缺性是否也会影响哥伦比亚高中生的心理带宽。在现场实验室实验中，我们测试了哥伦比亚波哥大 417 名社会经济地位高低 (SES) 的高中生如何应对不同的稀缺情况。首先向学生展示了严重或软性稀缺的假设情景。接下来，参与者必须解决一系列测量更高认知功能的任务（即 Raven 的渐进矩阵，认知反思任务和问题来评估他们的延迟折扣价值），并且必须解释他们将如何解决稀缺情况。与 Mani 等人相反。（Science 342:976–980, 2013），我们没有发现稀缺性对个人的心理带宽、认知和执行功能都没有造成负担。我们发现，在严酷的稀缺条件下，低 SES 的个体比高 SES 的个体表现出更多的共情属性。总之，这项研究的结果表明了在不同文化和环境中复制的重要性。我们发现，在严酷的稀缺条件下，低 SES 的个体比高 SES 的个体表现出更多的共情属性。总之，这项研究的结果表明了在不同文化和环境中复制的重要性。我们发现，在严酷的稀缺条件下，低 SES 的个体比高 SES 的个体表现出更多的共情属性。总之，这项研究的结果表明了在不同文化和环境中复制的重要性。