1
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Hou X, Shang J, Tong S. Neural Mechanisms of the Conscious and Subliminal Processing of Facial Attractiveness. Brain Sci 2023; 13:855. [PMID: 37371335 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13060855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2023] [Revised: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the neural activity evoked by facial attractiveness in conscious and subliminal conditions. The 41 participants judged facial attractiveness in a conscious condition and a subliminal condition (backward masking paradigm). The event-related potential (ERP) analysis indicated that in the conscious condition, more attractive faces elicited a longer N1 (80-120 ms) latency than less attractive faces. Moreover, more attractive female faces elicited a larger late positive component (LPC) (350-550 ms) amplitude than less attractive female faces. In the subliminal condition, more attractive faces elicited a longer P1 (140-180 ms) latency than less attractive faces. The present study demonstrated that more attractive faces evoked different early-stage ERPs from that evoked by less attractive faces in both conscious and subliminal conditions. However, the processing of facial attractiveness is obviously weakened in the subliminal condition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuejiao Hou
- College of Education, Suihua University, Suihua 152061, China
| | - Junchen Shang
- Department of Medical Humanities, School of Humanities, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China
- College of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China
| | - Shuo Tong
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China
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2
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Ziogas A, Habermeyer E, Santtila P, Poeppl TB, Mokros A. Neuroelectric Correlates of Human Sexuality: A Review and Meta-Analysis. ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 2023; 52:497-596. [PMID: 32016814 DOI: 10.1007/s10508-019-01547-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2018] [Revised: 07/17/2019] [Accepted: 09/04/2019] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Many reviews on sexual arousal in humans focus on different brain imaging methods and behavioral observations. Although neurotransmission in the brain is mainly performed through electrochemical signals, there are no systematic reviews of the electrophysiological correlates of sexual arousal. We performed a systematic search on this subject and reviewed 255 studies including various electrophysiological methods. Our results show how neuroelectric signals have been used to investigate genital somatotopy as well as basic genital physiology during sexual arousal and how cortical electric signals have been recorded during orgasm. Moreover, experiments on the interactions of cognition and sexual arousal in healthy subjects and in individuals with abnormal sexual preferences were analyzed as well as case studies on sexual disturbances associated with diseases of the nervous system. In addition, 25 studies focusing on brain potentials during the interaction of cognition and sexual arousal were eligible for meta-analysis. The results showed significant effect sizes for specific brain potentials during sexual stimulation (P3: Cohen's d = 1.82, N = 300, LPP: Cohen's d = 2.30, N = 510) with high heterogeneity between the combined studies. Taken together, our review shows how neuroelectric methods can consistently differentiate sexual arousal from other emotional states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anastasios Ziogas
- Department of Forensic Psychiatry, University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich, Alleestrasse 61A, 8462, Rheinau, Switzerland.
| | - Elmar Habermeyer
- Department of Forensic Psychiatry, University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Pekka Santtila
- Department of Arts & Sciences, New York University-Shanghai, Shanghai, China
| | - Timm B Poeppl
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Andreas Mokros
- Department of Forensic Psychiatry, University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Faculty of Psychology, Fern Universität in Hagen (University of Hagen), Hagen, Germany
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3
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Chen Z, Wang Z, Shen Y, Zeng S, Yang X, Kuang Y, Dou Z, Wang L, Li W. Face-specific negative bias of aesthetic perception in depression: Behavioral and EEG evidence. Front Psychiatry 2023; 14:1102843. [PMID: 36815191 PMCID: PMC9939764 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1102843] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Symptoms of depression are associated with the dysfunction of neural systems such as the emotion, reward system, and the default mode network. These systems were suggested by the model of neuroaesthetics as key contributions to aesthetic experience, leading to the prediction of atypical aesthetic orientation in depression. Here we investigated the aesthetic characteristics of depression and the corresponding neural underpinnings. METHODS Fifty-two (25 depression patients, 27 healthy controls) participants were asked to make aesthetic judgments on faces and landscapes in an electroencephalographic (EEG) experiment. RESULTS Our results indicate that relative to the controls, the depression tended to give ugly judgments and refrained from giving beautiful judgments, which was observed only for faces but not for landscapes. We also found that the face-induced component N170 was more negative in the depression group than the control group for ugly and neutral faces. Moreover, the aesthetic evaluation of ugly faces was associated with decreased N200 negativity in the depression group than in the control group, while the evaluation of beautiful faces was associated with decreased brain synchronization at the theta band. DISCUSSION These results suggested a face-specific negative aesthetic bias in depression which can help to design and develop aesthetics-oriented schemes in assisting the clinical diagnosis and therapy of depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhitang Chen
- Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Development and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.,Institute of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.,WLA Laboratories, World Laureates Association, Shanghai, China
| | - Zhenghua Wang
- The Fourth People's Hospital of Wuhu, Wuhu, Jiangsu, China
| | - Yuhua Shen
- The Fourth People's Hospital of Wuhu, Wuhu, Jiangsu, China
| | - Suhua Zeng
- Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Development and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.,Institute of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.,WLA Laboratories, World Laureates Association, Shanghai, China
| | - Xiangyu Yang
- Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Development and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.,Institute of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.,WLA Laboratories, World Laureates Association, Shanghai, China
| | - Yifang Kuang
- Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Development and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.,Institute of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.,WLA Laboratories, World Laureates Association, Shanghai, China
| | - Zheng Dou
- Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Development and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.,Institute of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.,WLA Laboratories, World Laureates Association, Shanghai, China
| | - Lihui Wang
- Institute of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.,Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.,Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence Technology, Shanghai, China
| | - Weidong Li
- Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Development and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.,Institute of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.,WLA Laboratories, World Laureates Association, Shanghai, China.,Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.,Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence Technology, Shanghai, China
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4
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Do looks matter in supply chain contracting? An experimental study. BUSINESS ECONOMICS (CLEVELAND, OHIO) 2023; 58:9-23. [PMID: 36694629 PMCID: PMC9851117 DOI: 10.1057/s11369-023-00301-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
We present results of an experiment designed to reveal the "face effect" on pricing behavior in a supply chain game. In particular, we study the variation in wholesale prices driven by subjective judgments of three facial traits-attractiveness, trustworthiness, and dominance-of a retailer's face and own appearance. Our experimental data suggest that the distributions of decisions in settings whether individuals see, or not see, retailers' faces are not equivalent. Furthermore, we find the complex dependencies between decision behaviors and facial traits. Subjective evaluations of facial traits, both self-reported and others, have a significant effect on the selected decisions.
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5
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Li Z. Physical attractiveness and women's intra-household bargaining power. Front Psychol 2022; 13:853083. [PMID: 36452379 PMCID: PMC9702522 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.853083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2022] [Accepted: 10/25/2022] [Indexed: 08/31/2023] Open
Abstract
This paper explores the role of physical attractiveness in affecting women's intra-household bargaining power. The empirical analysis based on the China Family Panel Studies finds that physical attractiveness significantly increases women's intra-household bargaining power. To solve the endogenous problem of physical attractiveness, we employ an instrument-variable-based regression to corroborate the conclusion. Using generalized structural equation model, we show that income, self-esteem, and interpersonal relationship are three possible transmission channels (or mediators) between physical attractiveness and women's intra-household bargaining power.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhongwu Li
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
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6
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Ye Y, Jiang P, Zhang W. The Neural and Psychological Processes of Peer-Influenced Online Donation Decision: An Event-Related Potential Study. Front Psychol 2022; 13:899233. [PMID: 35668975 PMCID: PMC9165720 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.899233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2022] [Accepted: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
With the rapid development of information and communication technology (ICT), social media-based donation platforms emerged.1 These platforms innovatively demonstrate peer information (e.g., number of donated peers) on the donation page, which inevitably brings the peer influence into donors’ donation decision process. However, how the peer influence will affect the psychological process of donation decisions are remained unknown. This study used the number of donated peers to examine the effects of peer influence on donors’ donation decisions and extracted event-related potential (ERP) from electroencephalographic data to explore the underlying psychological process. The behavioral results indicated that the number of donated peers positively influenced donors’ willingness to donate. The ERP results suggested that a larger number of donated peers might indicate a higher level of conformity and greater perceived emotional rewards, as a larger P2 amplitude was observed. Following the early processing of emotional stimuli, cognitive detection of decisional risk took place, and the donors reckoned a smaller number of donated peers as a high potential risk, which was reflected by a larger N2 amplitude. In the later stage, the larger number of donated peers, which represented a higher magnitude of prospective emotional rewards, led to a higher incentive to donate, and reflected in a larger amplitude of P3. Additionally, implications and future directions were discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuchen Ye
- Business School, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
| | - Pengtao Jiang
- School of Information Science and Engineering, NingboTech University, Ningbo, China.,Business School, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, China
| | - Wuke Zhang
- Business School, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
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7
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Shang J, Liu Z. Vocal Attractiveness Matters: Social Preferences in Cooperative Behavior. Front Psychol 2022; 13:877530. [PMID: 35693505 PMCID: PMC9177437 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.877530] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2022] [Accepted: 04/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Research has shown the phenomenon that "what sounds beautiful is good" is a stereotype. It is not clear whether vocal attractiveness affects social decision-making in economic games. Using a modified trust game task, we investigated the neural mechanism of the influence of vocal attractiveness on cooperative decision-making. Participants first heard the voice (attractive or unattractive) of the partner. They had enough time to decide whether to cooperate with the partner for a chance to earn monetary rewards. The behavioral results showed that participants made more invest choices in the attractive partner condition, and they were more likely to cooperate with the female partners in the unattractive voice condition. The event-related potential (ERP) analysis for voice stimuli showed that attractive voices induced larger N1 amplitude than unattractive voices only in the male voice condition. And female voices elicited smaller N1 and larger P2 amplitudes than male voices in both the attractive and unattractive voices condition. A larger P3 amplitude was evoked by female voices and attractive voices. In addition, a more positive late positive complex (LPC) was induced by male voices and attractive voices. This study suggested that attractive voices facilitated cooperative behavior, providing evidence for the "beauty premium" effect of the attractive voices. Moreover, participants were more likely to cooperate with female partners. In the early stage, gender information and male vocal attractiveness were processed automatically, suggesting that male vocal attractiveness was processed preferentially than the female voice. In the late stage, participants allocated attention to both male and female vocal attractiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junchen Shang
- Department of Medical Humanities, School of Humanities, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Zhihui Liu
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
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8
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Cui Y, Liu L. Investor sentiment-aware prediction model for P2P lending indicators based on LSTM. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0262539. [PMID: 35085306 PMCID: PMC8794130 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262539] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2021] [Accepted: 12/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
In recent years, online lending has created many risks while providing lending convenience to Chinese individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises. The timely assessment and prediction of the status of industry indicators is an important prerequisite for effectively preventing the spread of risks in China’s new financial formats. The role of investor sentiment should not be underestimated. We first use the BERT model to divide investor sentiment in the review information of China’s online lending third-party information website into three categories and analyze the relationship between investor sentiment and quantitative indicators of online lending product transactions. The results show that the percentage of positive comments has a positive relationship to the borrowing interest rate of P2P platforms that investors are willing to participate in for bidding projects. The percentage of negative comments has an inverse relationship to the borrowing period. Second, after introducing investor sentiment into the long short-term memory (LSTM) model, the average RMSE of the three forecast periods for borrowing interest rates is 0.373, and that of the borrowing period is 0.262, which are better than the values of other control models. Corresponding suggestions for the risk prevention of China’s new financial formats are made.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanyan Cui
- School of Statistics, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China
- * E-mail:
| | - Lixin Liu
- School of Statistics, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China
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9
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Ma Q, Wang M, Hu L, Zhang L, Hua Z. A Novel Recurrent Neural Network to Classify EEG Signals for Customers' Decision-Making Behavior Prediction in Brand Extension Scenario. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:610890. [PMID: 33762912 PMCID: PMC7982520 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.610890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2020] [Accepted: 01/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
It was meaningful to predict the customers' decision-making behavior in the field of market. However, due to individual differences and complex, non-linear natures of the electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, it was hard to classify the EEG signals and to predict customers' decisions by using traditional classification methods. To solve the aforementioned problems, a recurrent t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) neural network was proposed in current study to classify the EEG signals in the designed brand extension paradigm and to predict the participants' decisions (whether to accept the brand extension or not). The recurrent t-SNE neural network contained two steps. In the first step, t-SNE algorithm was performed to extract features from EEG signals. Second, a recurrent neural network with long short-term memory (LSTM) layer, fully connected layer, and SoftMax layer was established to train the features, classify the EEG signals, as well as predict the cognitive performance. The proposed network could give a good prediction with accuracy around 87%. Its superior in prediction accuracy as compared to a recurrent principal component analysis (PCA) network, a recurrent independent component correlation algorithm [independent component analysis (ICA)] network, a t-SNE support vector machine (SVM) network, a t-SNE back propagation (BP) neural network, a deep LSTM neural network, and a convolutional neural network were also demonstrated. Moreover, the performance of the proposed network with different activated channels were also investigated and compared. The results showed that the proposed network could make a relatively good prediction with only 16 channels. The proposed network would become a potentially useful tool to help a company in making marketing decisions and to help uncover the neural mechanisms behind individuals' decision-making behavior with low cost and high efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qingguo Ma
- Institute of Neural Management Sciences, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China.,School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.,School of Management, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
| | - Manlin Wang
- School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Linfeng Hu
- Institute of Neural Management Sciences, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China.,School of Management, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
| | - Linanzi Zhang
- School of Business Administration, Guizhou University of Finance and Economics, Guiyang, China
| | - Zhongling Hua
- Shandong Apipi Education and Technology Co., LTD, Jining, China
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10
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Shen Q, Zhu L, Meng L, Qiu W, Ma Q, Ebstein RP, Jin J. To Reveal or Not to Reveal? Observation of Social Outcomes Facilitates Reward Processing. Front Neurosci 2021; 14:579702. [PMID: 33505233 PMCID: PMC7829484 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.579702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2020] [Accepted: 11/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Motivation is a key topic that comprises considerable theoretical and practical implications, and its study is gaining increasing traction in recent years. Employing both behavioral and neural techniques, previous studies examined the extent to which intrinsic and extrinsic motivations collectively shape individual decision making. Investigations found that both processes play indispensable and interactive roles in choice behavior. However, despite its importance, little is known respecting the role of extrinsic social factors in contributing to individual variations in intrinsic motivation. Toward elucidating the role of extrinsic social factors in motivated decision making, the current study implements the stop watch task, combined with hyper-recording electrophysiological measurements. With the electrophysiological toolkit, our goal is to bring to light how extrinsic social signals impact intrinsic motivation and shape the reward processing over success and failure at the succeeding stage. Empirically, we show that, following social outcome presentation, there is an increased divergent feedback-related negativity (FRN), which reflects the failure/success discrepancy at the outcome stage of choice behavior. In summary, this study demonstrates the saliency of social information in intrinsic motivational processes that underpin success-failure outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiang Shen
- School of Management, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
| | - Lian Zhu
- School of Journalism and Communication, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China
| | - Liang Meng
- Laboratory of Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, School of Business and Management, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China
| | - Wenwei Qiu
- College of Economics and Management, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Qingguo Ma
- School of Management, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China.,School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Richard P Ebstein
- School of Management, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jia Jin
- Laboratory of Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, School of Business and Management, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China.,Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement, Business School, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
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11
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Fan B, Ding H, Jin J, Zhao M, Ma Q. Does the beauty premium effect always exist? - an ERP study of the facial attractiveness stereotype in public's attitudes toward in-Service Chinese civil servant. Int J Neurosci 2019; 129:1213-1222. [PMID: 31399004 DOI: 10.1080/00207454.2019.1655012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Objectives: Civil servants image is one of the most important representatives of government image. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the factors affecting the public's attitudes toward in-service civil servants. The current study aims to learn whether female facial attractiveness would affect the male public's attitudes toward in-service civil servants using event-related potentials. Methods: Participants were recruited to view attractive/unattractive faces followed by positive/negative adjectives. We observed that positive adjectives after unattractive faces elicited smaller N400 amplitudes than negative adjectives, and the N400 amplitude elicited by attractive faces after negative adjectives was significantly smaller than that elicited by unattractive faces. What's more, we found that the voltage of N400 was negative correlated with reaction time. Results: It showed that the incongruity of physically appearance and in-service civil servant positions lead to longer reaction time. The unattractive civil servant is more congruent with positive adjectives than the attractive one in the public's mind. Conclusion: We explain these findings from two aspects. First, the public is more rational for in-service civil servants, and factors that are unrelated to governing capacity, such as physical attractiveness, do not influence their attitudes. Second, civil servants are the position that requires technical ability to serve the public rather than communication ability, which was represented by physically attractive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bonai Fan
- School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University , Hangzhou , China.,Zhejiang Research Base for China's Non-public Economic Personages, Ningbo University , Ningbo , China.,Business School, Ningbo University , Ningbo , China.,Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement at Ningbo University , Ningbo , China
| | - Hao Ding
- Business School, Ningbo University , Ningbo , China.,Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement at Ningbo University , Ningbo , China
| | - Jia Jin
- Business School, Ningbo University , Ningbo , China.,Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement at Ningbo University , Ningbo , China
| | - Menglin Zhao
- Business School, Ningbo University , Ningbo , China.,Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement at Ningbo University , Ningbo , China
| | - Qingguo Ma
- Business School, Ningbo University , Ningbo , China.,Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement at Ningbo University , Ningbo , China.,School of Management, Zhejiang University , Hangzhou , China
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12
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Jin J, Shang Q, Ma Q. The role of appearance attractiveness and loan amount in peer-to-peer lending: Evidence from event-related potentials. Neurosci Lett 2019; 692:10-15. [PMID: 30393126 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2018.10.052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2018] [Revised: 10/20/2018] [Accepted: 10/24/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
In recent years, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending has become a popular financial channel for raising capital. However, in contrast to traditional lending, in P2P lending, lenders must evaluate the risk of the loan application themselves with limited objective information and professional knowledge. Therefore, information which can be easily obtained may largely influence lenders' loan decisions, making lenders' decisions more subjective. Because appearance attractiveness is one of the most important personal characteristics, particularly for females, the current study was designed to investigate whether and how potential borrowers' appearance attractiveness influences investors' decisions in online P2P lending by using event-related potentials (ERPs). Our results showed that at the behavioral level, the lending decision for attractive borrowers is associated with shorter reaction times (RTs) than that for unattractive borrowers. In contrast, at the brain level, a large loan amount elicited a larger error-related negative (ERN) amplitude than a small loan amount for unattractive borrowers, which was not the case for attractive borrowers. This finding could be explained as the borrowers' appearance attractiveness modulating the lenders' risk perceptions in P2P lending because lenders are more tolerant when attractive borrowers default and because attractive females may convey more trustworthy impressions according to the theory of perceived risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia Jin
- Business School, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China; Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement at Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
| | - Qian Shang
- Management School, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Qingguo Ma
- Business School, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China; Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement at Ningbo University, Ningbo, China.
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13
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Fan B, Zhao M, Jin J, Ding H, Ma Q. Rational civil servant interviewers: evidence from an event-related potential study of beauty premiums in Chinese civil servant interviews. Exp Brain Res 2018; 236:3159-3168. [PMID: 30178122 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-018-5373-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2018] [Accepted: 08/30/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Physical attractiveness can greatly influence business job applications (the "beauty premium" effect). However, little is known about whether and how physical attractiveness influences interviewers' evaluations of Chinese civil servant applicants, given that many characteristics of civil service appear to be different from those of business jobs. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), the current study investigated how female job candidates' physical attractiveness influenced interviewers' evaluations in Chinese civil servant interviews for both technical and managerial positions. The behavioral results showed that for the managerial positions, attractive female candidates had a much higher acceptance rate than unattractive candidates. However, for the technical positions, no significant difference was found between attractive and unattractive candidates. At the brain level, for the managerial positions, pairs of attractive faces with managerial posts elicited smaller N400 and larger late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes than did pairs of unattractive faces with managerial posts. However, this relationship was not observed for technical posts. The negative correlation between N400 amplitude and acceptance rate as well as the positive correlation between LPP amplitude and acceptance rate further confirmed these results. The present study suggests that beauty could potentially influence if candidates are accepted in real Chinese civil servant interviews, as observed experimentally in this research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bonai Fan
- School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.,Business School, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
| | - Menglin Zhao
- Business School, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China.,Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
| | - Jia Jin
- Business School, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China. .,Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China.
| | - Hao Ding
- Business School, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China.,Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
| | - Qingguo Ma
- Business School, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China.,Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
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14
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Yu H, Dan M, Ma Q, Jin J. They all do it, will you? Event-related potential evidence of herding behavior in online peer-to-peer lending. Neurosci Lett 2018; 681:1-5. [PMID: 29772258 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2018.05.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2018] [Revised: 05/10/2018] [Accepted: 05/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
As herding is a typical characteristic of human behavior, many researchers have found the existence of herding behavior in online peer-to-peer lending through empirical surveys. However, the underlying neural basis of this phenomenon is still unclear. In the current study, we studied the neural activities of herding at decision-making stage and feedback stage using event-related potentials (ERPs). Our results showed that at decision-making stage, larger error related negativity (ERN) amplitude was induced under low-proportion conditions than that of high-proportion conditions. Meanwhile, during feedback stage, negative feedback elicited larger feedback related negativity (FRN) amplitude than that of positive feedback under low-proportion conditions, however, there was no significant FRN difference under high-proportion conditions. The current study suggests that herding behavior in online peer-to-peer lending is related to individual's risk perception and is possible to avoid negative emotions brought by failed investments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haihong Yu
- School of Maritime, Ningbo University, 818# Fenghua Road, Ningbo, 315211, China; Center for Collaborative Innovation on Port Trading Cooperation and Development (Collaborative Innovation Center of Port Economics), 818# Fenghua Road, Ningbo, 315211, China; Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement, Ningbo University, 818# Fenghua Road, Ningbo, 315211, China
| | - MengHan Dan
- School of Maritime, Ningbo University, 818# Fenghua Road, Ningbo, 315211, China; Center for Collaborative Innovation on Port Trading Cooperation and Development (Collaborative Innovation Center of Port Economics), 818# Fenghua Road, Ningbo, 315211, China
| | - Qingguo Ma
- Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement, Ningbo University, 818# Fenghua Road, Ningbo, 315211, China; School of Business, Ningbo University, 818# Fenghua Road, Ningbo, 315211, China
| | - Jia Jin
- Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement, Ningbo University, 818# Fenghua Road, Ningbo, 315211, China; School of Business, Ningbo University, 818# Fenghua Road, Ningbo, 315211, China.
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Ford R, Price G, Hofmeyr KB, Chiba M. Brains versus beauty in the knowledge economy. SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 2018. [DOI: 10.4102/sajhrm.v16i0.897] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Orientation: It is a widely held belief that attractive people generally experience an easier life and that the door to success is opened by perfect bone structure and a sparkling smile. However, attractiveness might play a far lesser role in individual’s achieving their objectives than has previously been thought. Is it possible that an individual’s qualifications may have a greater influence on the perceptions of managers who assess the suitability of a candidate of a knowledge worker?Research purpose: The study sets out to examine the relative predictive power of physical attractiveness and qualifications in the decision to hire a knowledge worker.Motivation for the study: The research was motivated by a desire to explore the presence of bias in the decision-making process when seemingly rational individuals are exposed to factors such as physical attractiveness of a job candidate and then faced with a decision on whether to hire them.Research design, approach and method: A two-phased experimental design was applied to investigate the existence and strength of the beauty premium amongst a group of managers who were provided with fictitious resumes coupled with photographs of the applicants. These managers were requested to make a hiring decision based on the information supplied.Main findings: Although results confirm the existence of a beauty premium, it was relatively weak. It indicated that qualifications have a greater influence on a manager’s perception of the suitability of a candidate to fill a position of a knowledge worker.Practical or managerial implications: The research draws attention to the possibility of bias in selection decisions and proposes ways in which such potential bias can be limited.Contribution: This study contributes to knowledge concerning the existence or otherwise of a so-called beauty premium, with particular reference to its impact in the knowledge economy.
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Ma Q, Qian D, Hu L, Wang L. Hello handsome! Male's facial attractiveness gives rise to female's fairness bias in Ultimatum Game scenarios-An ERP study. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0180459. [PMID: 28678888 PMCID: PMC5498035 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0180459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2017] [Accepted: 06/15/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The current study delineated how male proposers’ facial attractiveness affect female responders’ fairness considerations and their subsequent decision outcome during the Ultimatum Game (UG). Event Related Potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 17 female subjects, who played the role as responders and had to decide whether to accept offers from either attractive or unattractive male proposers. Behavioral data (Acceptance Ratio and Response time) revealed that, more offers were accepted from attractive-face conditions; subjects typically responded quicker to unfair offers from unattractive proposers as compared with slower to unfair offers from attractive proposers. The ERP data demonstrated similar N2 amplitudes elicited by both attractive and unattractive faces, and a larger early frontal LPP elicited by the attractive faces compared with unattractive ones, but no significant differences of both late posterior LPP and typical parietal LPP amplitudes were observed between these two face conditions, which was different from our previous study with similar paradigm but male participants. The results suggest that, in comparison to males, females might not experience the potential attention bias towards unattractive opposite-sex faces and are less likely to possess an enhanced processing and evaluation of those faces. This phenomenon might be explained by endogenous gender differences in mate preference. The feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P300 responses during an offer presentation were further measured in both attractive-face and unattractive-face conditions and the results demonstrated that the amplitudes elicited by fair and unfair offers were not statistically different in the former condition, but were different in the latter condition. More specifically, unfair offers generated larger FRN and smaller P300 than fair ones in the unattractive-face condition. Findings suggest that, although females tend to possess less salient evaluation of male’s facial attractiveness, the attractiveness of male proposers would still attenuate female responders’ fairness consideration during the UG.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qingguo Ma
- School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Neuromanagement Lab, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Da Qian
- School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Neuromanagement Lab, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Linfeng Hu
- School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Neuromanagement Lab, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Lei Wang
- School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Neuromanagement Lab, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- * E-mail:
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