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Rösler IK, van Nunspeet F, Ellemers N. Beneficial effects of communicating intentions when delivering moral criticism: Cognitive and neural responses. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2024; 24:421-439. [PMID: 38356014 PMCID: PMC11078822 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-024-01164-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024]
Abstract
People often do not accept criticism on their morality, especially when delivered by outgroup members. In two preregistered studies, we investigated whether people become more receptive to such negative feedback when feedback senders communicate their intention to help. Participants received negative feedback from ostensible others on their selfish (rather than altruistic) decisions in a donation task. We manipulated the identity of a feedback sender (ingroup vs. outgroup) and the intention that they provided for giving feedback. A sender either did not communicate any intentions, indicated the intention to help the feedback receiver improve, or communicated the intention to show moral superiority. We measured participants' self-reported responses to the feedback (Study 1, N = 44) and additionally recorded an EEG in Study 2 (N = 34). Results showed that when no intentions were communicated, participants assumed worse intentions from outgroup senders than ingroup senders (Study 1). However, group membership had no significant effect once feedback senders made their intentions explicit. Moreover, across studies, when feedback senders communicated their intention to help, participants perceived feedback as less unfair compared with when senders tried to convey their moral superiority. Complementing these results, exploratory event-related potential results of Study 2 suggested that communicating the intention to help reduced participants' attentional vigilance toward negative feedback messages on their morality (i.e., decreased P200 amplitudes). These results demonstrate the beneficial effects of communicating the intention to help when one tries to encourage others' moral growth through criticism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Inga K Rösler
- Department of Social Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht129-B, 1018 WS, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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2
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Peters A, Helming H, Bruchmann M, Wiegandt A, Straube T, Schindler S. How and when social evaluative feedback is processed in the brain: A systematic review on ERP studies. Cortex 2024; 173:187-207. [PMID: 38422855 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.02.003] [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: 09/27/2023] [Revised: 02/15/2024] [Accepted: 02/16/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
Social evaluative feedback informs the receiver of the other's views, which may contain judgments of personality-related traits and/or the level of likability. Such kinds of social evaluative feedback are of particular importance to humans. Event-related potentials (ERPs) can directly measure where in the processing stream feedback valence, expectancy, or contextual relevance modulate information processing. This review provides an overview and systematization of studies and early, mid-latency, and late ERP effects. Early effects were inconsistently reported for all factors. Feedback valence effects are more consistently reported for specific mid-latency ERPs (Reward Positivity, RewP, and Early Posterior Negativity, EPN) and late positivities (P3 and Late Positive Potential, LPP). Unexpected feedback consistently increased the Feedback Related Negativity (FRN) and, less consistently, decreased P3 amplitudes. Contextual relevance of the sender (e.g., human vs computer sender) or self-relatedness increased mid-latency to late ERPs. Interactions between valence and other factors were less often found, arising during mid-latency stages, where most consistent interactions showed larger EPN and P3 amplitude differences for valent feedback in a more relevant context. The ERP findings highlight that social evaluative feedback is consistently differentiated during mid-latency processing stages. The review discusses the relevance of findings, possible shortcomings of different experimental designs, and open questions. Furthermore, we suggest concrete venues for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antje Peters
- Institute for Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany
| | - Hanne Helming
- Institute for Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany
| | - Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute for Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany
| | - Anja Wiegandt
- Institute for Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute for Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany
| | - Sebastian Schindler
- Institute for Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Germany.
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Li M, Zhong B, Li J, Li J, Zhang X, Luo X, Li H. The influence of self-esteem on interpersonal and competence evaluations: electrophysiological evidence from an ERP study. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae017. [PMID: 38306660 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2023] [Revised: 12/20/2023] [Accepted: 01/08/2024] [Indexed: 02/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Using event-related potentials, this study examined how self-esteem affects neural responses to competence (interpersonal) feedback when the need for relatedness (competence) is thwarted or met. Participants with low and high self-esteem acted as advisors who selected one of two options for a putative advisee. Subsequently, they passively observed the advisee, accepted, or rejected their advice (i.e. interpersonal feedback) and received correct or incorrect outcomes (i.e. competence feedback). When interpersonal feedback was followed by competence feedback, high self-esteem participants showed a smaller P3 following incorrect than correct outcomes, irrespective of whether the advice had been accepted or rejected. However, low self-esteem participants showed this P3 effect only when the advice was rejected, and the P3 difference disappeared when the advice was accepted. When competence feedback was followed by interpersonal feedback, both low self-esteem and high self-esteem individuals showed a larger P2 for rejection than for acceptance and a larger late potential component for incorrect than correct outcomes. These findings suggest that when interpersonal feedback is followed by competence feedback, low self-esteem and high self-esteem individuals have a desire for self-positivity. When competence feedback is followed by interpersonal feedback, they may have motives for self-change. Our findings shed light on the motivational mechanisms for self-esteem and feedback.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mei Li
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, No. 55 Zhongshan Road, TianHe Dist., Guangzhou 510631, China
- Department of Psychology, Hunan Normal University, No. 36 Lushan Road, Yuelu Dist., Changsha 410081, China
- Cognition and Human Behaviour Key Laboratory of Hunan Province, Hunan Normal University, No. 36 Lushan Road, Yuelu Dist., Changsha 410081, China
| | - Bowei Zhong
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 80 Zhongguancun East Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100049, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 80 Zhongguancun East Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Jin Li
- Department of Psychology, Hunan Normal University, No. 36 Lushan Road, Yuelu Dist., Changsha 410081, China
- Cognition and Human Behaviour Key Laboratory of Hunan Province, Hunan Normal University, No. 36 Lushan Road, Yuelu Dist., Changsha 410081, China
| | - Jialu Li
- Department of Psychology, Hunan Normal University, No. 36 Lushan Road, Yuelu Dist., Changsha 410081, China
- Cognition and Human Behaviour Key Laboratory of Hunan Province, Hunan Normal University, No. 36 Lushan Road, Yuelu Dist., Changsha 410081, China
| | - Xukai Zhang
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China
| | - Xi Luo
- Department of Psychology, Hunan Normal University, No. 36 Lushan Road, Yuelu Dist., Changsha 410081, China
- Cognition and Human Behaviour Key Laboratory of Hunan Province, Hunan Normal University, No. 36 Lushan Road, Yuelu Dist., Changsha 410081, China
| | - Hong Li
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, No. 55 Zhongshan Road, TianHe Dist., Guangzhou 510631, China
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China
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Hinojosa JA, Guasch M, Montoro PR, Albert J, Fraga I, Ferré P. The bright side of words: Norms for 9000 Spanish words in seven discrete positive emotions. Behav Res Methods 2023:10.3758/s13428-023-02229-8. [PMID: 37749425 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02229-8] [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] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/27/2023]
Abstract
In recent years, assumptions about the existence of a single construct of happiness that accounts for all positive emotions have been questioned. Instead, several discrete positive emotions with their own neurobiological and psychological mechanisms have been proposed. Of note, the effects of positive emotions on language processing are not yet properly understood. Here we provide a database for a large set of 9000 Spanish words scored by 3437 participants in the positive emotions of awe, contentment, amusement, excitement, serenity, relief, and pleasure. We also report significant correlations between discrete positive emotions and several affective (e.g., valence, arousal, happiness, negative discrete emotions) and lexico-semantic (e.g., frequency of use, familiarity, concreteness, age of acquisition) characteristics of words. Finally, we analyze differences between words conveying a single emotion ("pure" emotion words) and those denoting more than one emotion ("mixed" emotion words). This study will provide researchers a rich source of information to do research that contributes to expanding the current knowledge on the role of positive emotions in language. The norms are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21533571.v2.
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Affiliation(s)
- José A Hinojosa
- Instituto Pluridisciplinar, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
- Dpto. Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
- Centro de Investigación Nebrija en Cognición (CINC), Universidad Nebrija, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Marc Guasch
- Department of Psychology and CRAMC, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
| | - Pedro R Montoro
- Departamento de Psicología Básica 1, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid, Spain
| | - Jacobo Albert
- Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Isabel Fraga
- Cognitive Processes & Behaviour Research Group, Department of Social Psychology, Basic Psychology & Methodology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Pilar Ferré
- Department of Psychology and CRAMC, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
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Rösler IK, van Nunspeet F, Ellemers N. Falling on deaf ears: The effects of sender identity and feedback dimension on how people process and respond to negative feedback − An ERP study. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2022.104419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
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Weik E, Virji-Babul N, Ribary U, Tipper C. A matter of perspective: Distinct brain mechanisms for evaluating positive and negative social feedback about oneself and another person. Soc Neurosci 2022; 17:193-208. [DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2022.2058081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ella Weik
- Department of Psychiatry, Bc Mental Health and Substance Use Services, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Naznin Virji-Babul
- Department of Physical Therapy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Urs Ribary
- Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Department of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, Bc Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Christine Tipper
- Department of Psychiatry, Bc Mental Health and Substance Use Services, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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Encoding in a social feedback context enhances and biases behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of long-term recognition memory. Sci Rep 2022; 12:3312. [PMID: 35228604 PMCID: PMC8885702 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-07270-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2021] [Accepted: 02/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Encoding often occurs in social contexts, yet research has hardly addressed their role in verbal memory. In three experiments, we investigated the behavioral and neural effects of encoding context on memory for positive, negative, and neutral adjectives, contrasting a social-feedback group (N = 24) with an explicit verbal-learning (N = 24) and a levels-of-processing group (N = 24). Participants in the social-feedback group were not aware of a recognition session one week later, but their memory was better than the explicit learning or the levels-of-processing groups'. However, they also exhibited the strongest response bias, particularly for positive words. Brain event-related potentials (ERPs) revealed largest early negativities (EPN) and late positivities (LPP) in the social-feedback group. Only in the subsequent slow-wave did the explicit learning group show higher amplitudes than the other two groups, suggesting reliance on strategic rather than automatic processes. Still, context-driven incidental encoding outweighed explicit instructions, specifying a decisive role of social factors in memory.
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Modulating Social Feedback Processing by Deep TMS Targeting the Medial Prefrontal Cortex: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Manifestations. Neuroimage 2022; 250:118967. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.118967] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2021] [Revised: 01/20/2022] [Accepted: 02/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
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Schindler S, Höhner A, Moeck R, Bruchmann M, Straube T. Let's Talk About Each Other: Neural Responses to Dissenting Personality Evaluations Based on Real Dyadic Interactions. Psychol Sci 2021; 32:1058-1072. [PMID: 34101522 PMCID: PMC8641130 DOI: 10.1177/0956797621995197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Dyadic interactions are associated with the exchange of personality-related messages, which can be congruent or incongruent with one’s self-view. In the current preregistered study (N = 52), we investigated event-related potentials (ERPs) toward real social evaluations in order to uncover the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of congruent and incongruent evaluative feedback. Participants interacted first, and then during an electroencephalogram (EEG) session, they received evaluations from their interaction partner that were either congruent or incongruent with their own ratings. Findings show potentiated processing of self-related incongruent negative evaluations at early time points (N1) followed by increased processing of both incongruent negative and positive evaluations at midlatency time windows (early posterior negativity) and a prioritized processing of self-related incongruent positive evaluations at late time points (feedback-related P3, late positive potential). These findings reveal that, after real social interactions, evaluative feedback about oneself that violates one’s self-view modulates all processing stages with an early negativity and a late positivity bias.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster
| | - Anne Höhner
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster
| | - Robert Moeck
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster
| | - Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster
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Kissler J, Bromberek-Dyzman K. Mood Induction Differently Affects Early Neural Correlates of Evaluative Word Processing in L1 and L2. Front Psychol 2021; 11:588902. [PMID: 33510673 PMCID: PMC7835133 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.588902] [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: 07/29/2020] [Accepted: 12/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigate how mood inductions impact the neural processing of emotional adjectives in one's first language (L1) and a formally acquired second language (L2). Twenty-three student participants took part in an EEG experiment with two separate sessions. Happy or sad mood inductions were followed by series of individually presented positive, negative, or neutral adjectives in L1 (German) or L2 (English) and evaluative decisions had to be performed. Visual event-related potentials elicited during word processing were analyzed during N1 (125-200 ms), Early Posterior Negativities (EPN, 200-300 ms and 300-400 ms), N400 (350-450 ms), and the Late Positive Potential (LPP, 500-700 ms). Mood induction differentially impacted word processing already on the N1, with stronger left lateralization following happy than sad mood induction in L1, but not in L2. Moreover, regardless of language, early valence modulation was found following happy but not sad mood induction. Over occipital areas, happy mood elicited larger amplitudes of the mood-congruent positive words, whereas over temporal areas mood-incongruent negative words had higher amplitudes. In the EPN-windows, effects of mood and valence largely persisted, albeit with no difference between L1 and L2. N400 amplitude was larger for L2 than for L1. On the LPP, mood-incongruent adjectives elicited larger amplitudes than mood-congruent ones. Results reveal a remarkably early valence-general effect of mood induction on cortical processing, in line with previous reports of N1 as a first marker of contextual integration. Interestingly, this effect differed between L1 and L2. Moreover, mood-congruent effects were found in perceptual processing and mood-incongruent ERP amplification in higher-order evaluative stages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johanna Kissler
- Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
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Schindler S, Bruchmann M, Straube T. Imagined veridicality of social feedback amplifies early and late brain responses. Soc Neurosci 2020; 15:678-687. [DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2020.1857303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
| | - Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
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