Voluntary or reluctant? Social influence in charitable giving: an ERP study

Willingness valued more than ability in partner choice: Insights into behavioral and ERP data

In human cooperation, people prefer to choose partners with high willingness and ability-while both are valued by partners, individuals often prioritize willingness. Two event-related potential (ERP) experiments were conducted to discern the neural processes underpinning this preference. In the first experiment, participants made a choice between two potential partners and received feedback on the selected partner's willingness to cooperate. This was followed by feedback on the partner's task performance (ability) or a gambling outcome. In contrast, the second experiment first provided feedback on ability, then presented feedback on willingness or a gambling outcome. This study revealed that a potential partner's willingness trait significantly influences individuals' emotional evaluations and monetary allocations than the ability trait. Electrophysiological data indicated that low-willingness feedback elicited a diminished feedback-related negative (FRN) and an amplified P3 compared to high-willingness feedback. In contrast, no such difference was discernible between high- and low-ability feedback. Moreover, the P3 difference from high versus low willingness was considerably more pronounced than that from gambling outcomes, whereas the difference wave between high and low ability paralleled gambling outcomes. These findings bolster the novel finding that partner willingness may provide more substantial social rewards than ability. Furthermore, this study provides the first ERP evidence of willingness and ability trait perceptions in partner choice decisions.

Adaptive adjustment after conflict with group opinion: evidence from neural electrophysiology

Individuals inherently seek social consensus when making decisions or judgments. Previous studies have consistently indicated that dissenting group opinions are perceived as social conflict that demands attitude adjustment. However, the neurocognitive processes of attitude adjustment are unclear. In this electrophysiological study, participants were recruited to perform a face attractiveness judgment task. After forming their own judgment of a face, participants were informed of a purported group judgment (either consistent or inconsistent with their judgment), and then, critically, the same face was presented again. The neural responses to the second presented faces were measured. The second presented faces evoked a larger late positive potential after conflict with group opinions than those that did not conflict, suggesting that more motivated attention was allocated to stimulus. Moreover, faces elicited greater midfrontal theta (4-7 Hz) power after conflict with group opinions than after consistency with group opinions, suggesting that cognitive control was initiated to support attitude adjustment. Furthermore, the mixed-effects model revealed that single-trial theta power predicted behavioral change in the Conflict condition, but not in the No-Conflict condition. These findings provide novel insights into the neurocognitive processes underlying attitude adjustment, which is crucial to behavioral change during conformity.

The influence of altruistic personality, interpersonal distance and social observation on prosocial behavior: An event-related potential (ERP) study

The psychological mechanisms that high and low altruists exhibit in different contexts remain unknown. This study examined the underlying mechanisms of the effect of altruistic personality, social observation, and interpersonal distance on prosocial behavior using event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants with high and low altruism were asked to make prosocial or non-prosocial choices toward different interpersonal distances (friends, acquaintances, or strangers) under the (non)observer condition. The electrophysiological responses to the choice stimuli were simultaneously recorded. The behavioral results demonstrated that high altruists had more prosocial choices, and these choices were unaffected by interpersonal distance and social observation. However, low altruists made more prosocial choices toward friends and acquaintances under the observer than nonobserver conditions, whereas their prosocial choices toward strangers showed no difference. The ERP results demonstrated that low altruists showed more negative N2 when the choice stimuli were toward strangers and acquaintances or under the nonobserver condition. Furthermore, low altruists showed larger P3 under the observer than nonobserver conditions when the choice stimuli were toward friends and acquaintances, while this difference was absent when the choice stimuli were toward strangers. However, for high altruists, no effect of interpersonal distance and social observation was observed in N2 and P3. These results suggest that the prosocial behavior of low altruists is mainly driven by reputational incentives, whereas high altruists are primarily motivated by concern about the well-being of others. Our findings provide insights into the prosocial behavior of high and low altruists in different contexts and support the empathy-altruism hypothesis.