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Yang Q, Hoffman M, Krueger F. The science of justice: The neuropsychology of social punishment. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 157:105525. [PMID: 38158000 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2023] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 12/23/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Abstract
The social punishment (SP) of norm violations has received much attention across multiple disciplines. However, current models of SP fail to consider the role of motivational processes, and none can explain the observed behavioral and neuropsychological differences between the two recognized forms of SP: second-party punishment (2PP) and third-party punishment (3PP). After reviewing the literature giving rise to the current models of SP, we propose a unified model of SP which integrates general psychological descriptions of decision-making as a confluence of affect, cognition, and motivation, with evidence that SP is driven by two main factors: the amount of harm (assessed primarily in the salience network) and the norm violator's intention (assessed primarily in the default-mode and central-executive networks). We posit that motivational differences between 2PP and 3PP, articulated in mesocorticolimbic pathways, impact final SP by differentially impacting the assessments of harm and intention done in these domain-general large-scale networks. This new model will lead to a better understanding of SP, which might even improve forensic, procedural, and substantive legal practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qun Yang
- Department of Psychology, Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
| | - Morris Hoffman
- Second Judicial District (ret.), State of Colorado, Denver, CO, USA.
| | - Frank Krueger
- School of Systems Biology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA.
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Giorgetta C, Grecucci A, Graffeo M, Bonini N, Ferrario R, Sanfey AG. Expect the Worst! Expectations and Social Interactive Decision Making. Brain Sci 2021; 11:brainsci11050572. [PMID: 33946847 PMCID: PMC8145296 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11050572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2021] [Revised: 04/19/2021] [Accepted: 04/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Psychological studies have demonstrated that expectations can have substantial effects on choice behavior, although the role of expectations on social decision making in particular has been relatively unexplored. To broaden our knowledge, we examined the role of expectations on decision making when interacting with new game partners and then also in a subsequent interaction with the same partners. To perform this, 38 participants played an Ultimatum Game (UG) in the role of responders and were primed to expect to play with two different groups of proposers, either those that were relatively fair (a tendency to propose an equal split—the high expectation condition) or unfair (with a history of offering unequal splits—the low expectation condition). After playing these 40 UG rounds, they then played 40 Dictator Games (DG) as allocator with the same set of partners. The results showed that expectations affect UG decisions, with a greater proportion of unfair offers rejected from the high as compared to the low expectation group, suggesting that players utilize specific expectations of social interaction as a behavioral reference point. Importantly, this was evident within subjects. Interestingly, we also demonstrated that these expectation effects carried over to the subsequent DG. Participants allocated more money to the recipients of the high expectation group as well to those who made equal offers and, in particular, when the latter were expected to behave unfairly, suggesting that people tend to forgive negative violations and appreciate and reward positive violations. Therefore, both the expectations of others’ behavior and their violations play an important role in subsequent allocation decisions. Together, these two studies extend our knowledge of the role of expectations in social decision making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cinzia Giorgetta
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, DipSCo, University of Trento, Corso Bettini, 84, 38068 Rovereto, Italy; (A.G.); (M.G.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-0464-808644; Fax: +39-0464-808602
| | - Alessandro Grecucci
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, DipSCo, University of Trento, Corso Bettini, 84, 38068 Rovereto, Italy; (A.G.); (M.G.)
- Centre for Medical Sciences, CISMed, University of Trento, Via S. Maria Maddalena, 1, 38122 Trento, Italy
| | - Michele Graffeo
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, DipSCo, University of Trento, Corso Bettini, 84, 38068 Rovereto, Italy; (A.G.); (M.G.)
| | - Nicolao Bonini
- Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento, Via Vigilio Inama, 5, 38122 Trento, Italy;
| | - Roberta Ferrario
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, CNR, Via alla Cascata 56 C, 38123 Povo, Italy;
| | - Alan G. Sanfey
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands;
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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Pei G, Jin J, Li T, Fang C. Less Expectation, Less Pain: Low Wealth Alleviates Sense of Unfairness. Front Psychol 2021; 12:571952. [PMID: 33995167 PMCID: PMC8115124 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.571952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2020] [Accepted: 04/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective wealth plays an important role in social interaction and economic decision making. Previous studies indicate that objective wealth of others may influence the way we participate in resources allocation. However, the effect of objective wealth on responses to fairness-related resource distribution is far from clear, as are the underlying neural processes. To address this issue, we dynamically manipulated proposers' objective wealth and analyzed participants' behavior as responders in a modified Ultimatum Game, during which event-related potentials were recorded. Behavioral results showed that participants were prone to reject unfair proposals although that rejection would reduce their own benefit. Importantly, participants were more likely to accept unfair offers from proposers with low objective wealth than from proposers with high objective wealth, with a drastic increase in acceptance rates of unfair offers from 32.79 to 50.59%. Further electrophysiological results showed that there was significantly enhanced feedback-related negativity amplitude toward proposers with high (relative to low) objective wealth for unfair offers. Furthermore, the late frontal negativity amplitude was larger for all the conditions which are not high-fair, which might be the only option that did not elicit any ambiguity. These findings suggest a strong role of proposers' objective wealth in modulating responders' behavioral and neural responses to fairness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guanxiong Pei
- Research Center for Advanced AI Theory, Zhejiang Lab, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jia Jin
- Laboratory of Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, School of Business and Management, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China
| | - Taihao Li
- Research Center for Advanced AI Theory, Zhejiang Lab, Hangzhou, China
| | - Cheng Fang
- Accounting Department, Zhejiang Radio and TV Group, Hangzhou, China
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Civai C, Teodorini R, Carrus E. Does unfairness sound wrong? A cross-domain investigation of expectations in music and social decision-making. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2020; 7:190048. [PMID: 33047004 PMCID: PMC7540783 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.190048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2019] [Accepted: 08/24/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
This study was interested in investigating the existence of a shared psychological mechanism for the processing of expectations across domains. The literature on music and language shows that violations of expectations produce similar neural responses and violating the expectation in one domain may influence the processing of stimuli in the other domain. Like music and language, our social world is governed by a system of inherent rules or norms, such as fairness. The study therefore aimed to draw a parallel to the social domain and investigate whether a manipulation of melodic expectation can influence the processing of higher-level expectations of fairness. Specifically, we aimed to investigate whether the presence of an unexpected melody enhances or reduces participants' sensitivity to the violations of fairness and the behavioural reactions associated with these. We embedded a manipulation of melodic expectation within a social decision-making paradigm, whereby musically expected and unexpected stimuli will be simultaneously presented with fair and unfair divisions in a third-party altruistic punishment game. Behavioural and electroencephalographic responses were recorded. Results from the pre-planned analyses show that participants are less likely to punish when melodies are more unexpected and that violations of fairness norms elicit medial frontal negativity (MFN)-life effects. Because no significant interactions between melodic expectancy and fairness of the division were found, results fail to provide evidence of a shared mechanism for the processing of expectations. Exploratory analyses show two additional effects: (i) unfair divisions elicit an early attentional component (P2), probably associated with stimulus saliency, and (ii) mid-value divisions elicit a late MFN-like component, probably reflecting stimulus ambiguity. Future studies could build on these results to further investigate the effect of the cross-domain influence of music on the processing of social stimuli on these early and late components.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Elisa Carrus
- Division of Psychology, School of Applied Sciences, London South Bank University, London, UK
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