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Yang Y, Zhong B, Zhang W, Fan W. The impact of social comparison on self-deception: An event-related potentials study. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2024; 24:931-947. [PMID: 39042281 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-024-01203-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/10/2024] [Indexed: 07/24/2024]
Abstract
Self-deception refers to an individual holding inflated beliefs about their abilities, and it plays a crucial role in human behavior and decision-making. The present study employed event-related potentials (ERPs) technique to explore the neural responses to the impacts of social comparison direction and comparison gap on self-deceptive behavior. They were instructed to predict their performance in the forward-looking paradigm. Behavioral responses and neural reactions during the decision-making process were documented. The behavioral results indicated that, in contrast to the downward comparison condition, participants engaged in upward comparison exhibited more occurrences of self-deception. However, within the context of upward comparison, participants demonstrated a higher frequency of self-deception in the large gap condition compared with the small gap condition. The ERP results showed that induced self-deception under conditions with a large comparative gap between participants and their paired counterparts stimulated larger P300 and smaller N400 amplitude than under conditions with a small gap. However, when participants were in the upward comparison situation, the late positive potential (LPP) amplitude induced by self-deception behavior in the condition of a large comparison gap between participants and paired opponents was larger than that in the condition of a small comparison gap. These results indicated that individuals in the large gap group feel strong unfairness and negative emotions. More importantly, the self-deception induced by the large gap group in the upward comparison situation used fewer cognitive resources than the small gap condition, whereas the individuals in the downward comparison situation did not show the difference in cognitive resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Yang
- Department of Psychology, School of Education Science, Hunan Normal University, No. 36 Lu Shan Road, Yue Lu Dist, Changsha, 410081, China
- Hunan Key Laboratory of Cognition and Human Behavior, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
| | - Bowei Zhong
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Wenjie Zhang
- Hunan Key Laboratory of Cognition and Human Behavior, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
- Department of Early Childhood Education, School of Education Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
| | - Wei Fan
- Department of Psychology, School of Education Science, Hunan Normal University, No. 36 Lu Shan Road, Yue Lu Dist, Changsha, 410081, China.
- Hunan Key Laboratory of Cognition and Human Behavior, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China.
- Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China.
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Hadžiahmetović N, Opačić G, Teovanović P, Kolenović-Đapo J. The desirability bias in personality-related syllogistic reasoning. Scand J Psychol 2024; 65:394-402. [PMID: 38041434 DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12984] [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: 08/20/2022] [Revised: 10/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 12/03/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION The belief-bias effect is a tendency to evaluate syllogistic statements based on believability rather than on formal logic validity. Following this rationale, the study examines desirability bias as the tendency to evaluate syllogistic conclusions based on their desirability when reasoning is conducted on personality-relevant categorical syllogisms. METHODS For this purpose, 60 syllogisms were constructed based on the items of the Big Five questionnaire. Syllogisms were subsequently categorized as desirable (e.g., "I empathize with others") and undesirable (e.g., "I am passive") based on their conclusion. In each task, the second premise and the conclusion were formulated in the first person to increase a respondent's identification with the content. A total of 300 university students (Mage = 20.08, SD = 2.02) participated in the study. RESULTS A 2 (syllogism validity: valid, invalid) × 2 (syllogism desirability: desirable, undesirable) repeated measures ANOVA was employed. The analysis showed a greater tendency to accept desirable conclusions on valid syllogisms (valid desirable rather than valid undesirable) and reject undesirable conclusions on invalid syllogisms (invalid undesirable rather than invalid desirable). CONCLUSION These findings have implications for socially desirable responding in cognitive tasks, which may be further developed as a source of self-relevant content as well as for further extension of belief bias in the form of desirability bias.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nina Hadžiahmetović
- Department of Psychology, University of Sarajevo-Faculty of Philosophy, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
| | - Goran Opačić
- Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Predrag Teovanović
- Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Jadranka Kolenović-Đapo
- Department of Psychology, University of Sarajevo-Faculty of Philosophy, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Mei D, Ke Z, Li Z, Zhang W, Gao D, Yin L. Self-deception: Distorted metacognitive process in ambiguous contexts. Hum Brain Mapp 2022; 44:948-969. [PMID: 36308407 PMCID: PMC9875939 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2022] [Revised: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
As one of the commonly used folk psychological concepts, self-deception has been intensively discussed yet is short of solid ground from cognitive neuroscience. Self-deception is a biased cognitive process of information to obtain or maintain a false belief that could be both self-enhancing or self-diminishing. Study 1 (N = 152) captured self-deception by adopting a modified numerical discrimination task that provided cheating opportunities, quantifying errors in predicting future performance (via item-response theory model), and measuring the belief of how good they are at solving the task (i.e., self-efficacy belief). By examining whether self-efficacy belief is based upon actual ability (true belief) or prediction errors (false belief), Study 1 showed that self-deception occurred in the effortless (easier access to answer cues) rather than effortful (harder access to answer cues) cheating opportunity conditions, suggesting high ambiguity in attributions facilitates self-deception. Studies 2 and 3 probed the neural source of self-deception, linking self-deception with the metacognitive process. Both studies replicated behavioral results from Study 1. Study 2 (ERP study; N = 55) found that the amplitude of frontal slow wave significantly differed between participants with positive/self-enhancing and negative/self-diminishing self-deceiving tendencies in incorrect predictions while remaining similar in correct predictions. Study 3 (functional magnetic resonance imaging study; N = 33) identified self-deceiving associated activity in the anterior medial prefrontal cortex and showed that effortless cheating context increased cheating behaviors that further facilitated self-deception. Our findings suggest self-deception is a false belief associated with a distorted metacognitive mental process that requires ambiguity in attributions of behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongmei Mei
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Department of PsychologySun Yat‐sen UniversityGuangzhouChina,School of PsychologyGuizhou Normal UniversityGuiyangChina
| | - Zijun Ke
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Department of PsychologySun Yat‐sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Zhihao Li
- School of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive ScienceShenzhen UniversityShenzhenGuangdongChina
| | - Wenjian Zhang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Department of PsychologySun Yat‐sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Dingguo Gao
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Department of PsychologySun Yat‐sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Lijun Yin
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Department of PsychologySun Yat‐sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
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Ai W, Cunningham WA, Lai MC. Reconsidering autistic ‘camouflaging’ as transactional impression management. Trends Cogn Sci 2022; 26:631-645. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2022.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2022] [Revised: 05/02/2022] [Accepted: 05/03/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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Preliminary Evidence of the Role of Medial Prefrontal Cortex in Self-Enhancement: A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study. Brain Sci 2020; 10:brainsci10080535. [PMID: 32784394 PMCID: PMC7464708 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci10080535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2020] [Revised: 08/05/2020] [Accepted: 08/06/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans employ a number of strategies to improve their position in their given social hierarchy. Overclaiming involves presenting oneself as having more knowledge than one actually possesses, and it is typically invoked to increase one’s social standing. If increased expectations to possess knowledge is a perceived social pressure, such expectations should increase bouts of overclaiming. As the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) is sensitive to social pressure and disruption of the MPFC leads to decreases in overclaiming, we predicted that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied to the MPFC would reduce overclaiming and the effects would be enhanced in the presence of social pressure. Twelve participants were given a test in which half of the words were real and half were fake, and they were asked how well they knew each word. They were not told that any of the words were fake. Half of the participants were exposed to social pressure while the other half were not. Following TMS delivered to the MPFC, overclaiming rates decreased, specifically under conditions of high social pressure. Medial PFC TMS did not influence real word responses and real words did not interact with the MPFC and social pressure. These preliminary findings support the significant role the MPFC plays in social cognition and the importance of the MPFC in mediating socially meaningful situations. We suggest the role of the MPFC as being highly influenced by the premium placed on social manipulation in human evolution.
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The effect of cognitive vagueness and motivation on conscious and unconscious self-deception. ACTA PSYCHOLOGICA SINICA 2019. [DOI: 10.3724/sp.j.1041.2019.01330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Mameli F, Scarpazza C, Tomasini E, Ferrucci R, Ruggiero F, Sartori G, Priori A. The guilty brain: the utility of neuroimaging and neurostimulation studies in forensic field. Rev Neurosci 2018; 28:161-172. [PMID: 28030362 DOI: 10.1515/revneuro-2016-0048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2016] [Accepted: 09/17/2016] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Several studies have aimed to address the natural inability of humankind to detect deception and accurately discriminate lying from truth in the legal context. To date, it has been well established that telling a lie is a complex mental activity. During deception, many functions of higher cognition are involved: the decision to lie, withholding the truth, fabricating the lie, monitoring whether the receiver believes the lie, and, if necessary, adjusting the fabricated story and maintaining a consistent lie. In the previous 15 years, increasing interest in the neuroscience of deception has resulted in new possibilities to investigate and interfere with the ability to lie directly from the brain. Cognitive psychology, as well as neuroimaging and neurostimulation studies, are increasing the possibility that neuroscience will be useful for lie detection. This paper discusses the scientific validity of the literature on neuroimaging and neurostimulation regarding lie detection to understand whether scientific findings in this field have a role in the forensic setting. We considered how lie detection technology may contribute to addressing the detection of deception in the courtroom and discussed the conditions and limits in which these techniques reliably distinguish whether an individual is lying.
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Tang H, Ye P, Wang S, Zhu R, Su S, Tong L, Liu C. Stimulating the Right Temporoparietal Junction with tDCS Decreases Deception in Moral Hypocrisy and Unfairness. Front Psychol 2017; 8:2033. [PMID: 29218025 PMCID: PMC5703714 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2017] [Accepted: 11/06/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Self-centered and other-regarding concerns play important roles in decisions of deception. To investigate how these two motivations affect deception in fairness related moral hypocrisy, we modulated the brain activity in the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ), the key region for decision making involved in self-centered and other-regarding concerns. After receiving brain stimulation with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), participants finished a modified dictator game. In the game, they played as proposers to make allocations between themselves and recipients and had a chance to deceive by misreporting their totals for allocations. Results show that deception in moral hypocrisy was decreased after anodal stimulation than sham and cathodal stimulation, only when participants know that their reported totals (appearing fair) would be revealed to recipients rather than being unrevealed. Anodal stimulation also increased offers to recipients than cathodal stimulation regardless of the revelation of reported totals. These findings suggest that enhancing the activity of rTPJ decreased deception caused by impression management rather than self-deception in moral hypocrisy and unfairness through facilitating other-regarding concerns and weakening non-material self-centered motivations. They provide causal evidence for the role of rTPJ in both other-regarding concerns and non-material self-centered motivations, shedding light on the way to decrease moral hypocrisy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Honghong Tang
- Business School, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Peixia Ye
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Shun Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Ruida Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Song Su
- Business School, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Luqiong Tong
- Business School, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Chao Liu
- Business School, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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