Whether others were treated equally affects neural responses to unfairness in the Ultimatum Game

Li Zheng; Xiuyan Guo; Lei Zhu; Jianqi Li; Luguang Chen; Zoltan Dienes

doi:10.1093/scan/nsu071

Whether others were treated equally affects neural responses to unfairness in the Ultimatum Game

Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2015 Mar;10(3):461-6. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsu071. Epub 2014 May 19.

Authors

Li Zheng¹, Xiuyan Guo², Lei Zhu¹, Jianqi Li¹, Luguang Chen¹, Zoltan Dienes¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, North Zhongshan Road 3663, Shanghai, SH 200062, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, North Zhongshan Road 3663, Shanghai, SH 200062, China, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, SH 200062, China, Department of Psychology, Fudan University, Handan Road 220, Shanghai, SH 200433, China, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Department of Physics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, SH 200062, China, and Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9RH, UK.
² School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, North Zhongshan Road 3663, Shanghai, SH 200062, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, North Zhongshan Road 3663, Shanghai, SH 200062, China, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, SH 200062, China, Department of Psychology, Fudan University, Handan Road 220, Shanghai, SH 200433, China, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Department of Physics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, SH 200062, China, and Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9RH, UK School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, North Zhongshan Road 3663, Shanghai, SH 200062, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, North Zhongshan Road 3663, Shanghai, SH 200062, China, Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, SH 200062, China, Department of Psychology, Fudan University, Handan Road 220, Shanghai, SH 200433, China, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Department of Physics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, SH 200062, China, and Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9RH, UK wlkc_xyguo@126.com xyguo@psy.ecnu.edu.cn.

Abstract

People expect to be treated equivalently as others in like circumstances. The present study investigated that whether and how equal or unequal treatments of others in like circumstances affected individuals' responses to unfairness through justifying their reference points for fairness considerations. Twenty-five participants were scanned while they were playing an adapted version of the Ultimatum Game as responders. During the experiment, the participant was not only informed of the offer given by her/his proposer but also informed of the division scheme of another proposer-responder pair. It turned out that participants were more likely to accept unequal offers and reported higher fairness ratings when other responders received unequal offers compared with equal offers. Stronger bilateral anterior insula and dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus activities were observed when only participants (but not other responders) received equal offers, whereas greater right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity was found when both of them received unequal offers, especially when participants accepted the unequal offers. Taken together, the results demonstrated that whether others in like circumstances were offered equally also plays an important role in responders' fairness-related social decision making.

Keywords: AI; DLPFC; Ultimatum Game; dACC; reference point; unfairness.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Affect
Brain Mapping
Decision Making
Empathy / physiology*
Facial Expression
Female
Games, Experimental
Gyrus Cinguli / physiology*
Humans
Male
Photic Stimulation
Prefrontal Cortex / physiology*
Social Behavior*
Social Environment*
Young Adult