Positive Interaction of Social Comparison and Personal Responsibility for Outcomes

We formulate and test a model that allows a sharp separation between social versus private and personal responsibility versus chance in the evaluation of outcomes. In the experiment, subjects choose between two lotteries, one low-risk and one high-risk. They could then observe the outcomes. By varyi...

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Main Authors: Jaroslaw eGrygolec, Giorgio eCoricelli, Aldo eRustichini
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2012-02-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00025/full
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author Jaroslaw eGrygolec
Giorgio eCoricelli
Giorgio eCoricelli
Aldo eRustichini
author_facet Jaroslaw eGrygolec
Giorgio eCoricelli
Giorgio eCoricelli
Aldo eRustichini
author_sort Jaroslaw eGrygolec
collection DOAJ
description We formulate and test a model that allows a sharp separation between social versus private and personal responsibility versus chance in the evaluation of outcomes. In the experiment, subjects choose between two lotteries, one low-risk and one high-risk. They could then observe the outcomes. By varying the environment between private (in which they could only observe the outcome of the lottery they had not chosen) and social (they could observe the outcome of the lottery chosen by another subject) we can differentiate the response and brain activity following the feedback in social and private settings. The evidence suggests that envy and pride are significant motives driving decisions and outcomes evaluation, stronger than private emotions like regret and rejoice, with ventral striatum playing a key role. Focusing on outcomes evaluation stage we demonstrate that BOLD signal in ventral striatum is increasing in the difference between obtained and counterfactual payoffs. For a given difference in payoffs, striatal responses are more pronounced in social than in private environment. Moreover, a positive interaction (complementarity) between social comparison and personal responsibility is reflected in the pattern of activity in the ventral striatum. At decision stage we observe getting ahead of the Joneses effect in ventral striatum with subjective value of risk larger in social than in private environment.
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spelling doaj.art-c76a839e10da4bbc955264e0a54d8b312022-12-22T03:46:05ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782012-02-01310.3389/fpsyg.2012.0002520170Positive Interaction of Social Comparison and Personal Responsibility for OutcomesJaroslaw eGrygolec0Giorgio eCoricelli1Giorgio eCoricelli2Aldo eRustichini3Università degli Studi di TrentoUniversity of Southern CaliforniaUniversità degli Studi di TrentoUniversity of MinnesotaWe formulate and test a model that allows a sharp separation between social versus private and personal responsibility versus chance in the evaluation of outcomes. In the experiment, subjects choose between two lotteries, one low-risk and one high-risk. They could then observe the outcomes. By varying the environment between private (in which they could only observe the outcome of the lottery they had not chosen) and social (they could observe the outcome of the lottery chosen by another subject) we can differentiate the response and brain activity following the feedback in social and private settings. The evidence suggests that envy and pride are significant motives driving decisions and outcomes evaluation, stronger than private emotions like regret and rejoice, with ventral striatum playing a key role. Focusing on outcomes evaluation stage we demonstrate that BOLD signal in ventral striatum is increasing in the difference between obtained and counterfactual payoffs. For a given difference in payoffs, striatal responses are more pronounced in social than in private environment. Moreover, a positive interaction (complementarity) between social comparison and personal responsibility is reflected in the pattern of activity in the ventral striatum. At decision stage we observe getting ahead of the Joneses effect in ventral striatum with subjective value of risk larger in social than in private environment.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00025/fullfMRIenvyprideregretsocial comparison
spellingShingle Jaroslaw eGrygolec
Giorgio eCoricelli
Giorgio eCoricelli
Aldo eRustichini
Positive Interaction of Social Comparison and Personal Responsibility for Outcomes
Frontiers in Psychology
fMRI
envy
pride
regret
social comparison
title Positive Interaction of Social Comparison and Personal Responsibility for Outcomes
title_full Positive Interaction of Social Comparison and Personal Responsibility for Outcomes
title_fullStr Positive Interaction of Social Comparison and Personal Responsibility for Outcomes
title_full_unstemmed Positive Interaction of Social Comparison and Personal Responsibility for Outcomes
title_short Positive Interaction of Social Comparison and Personal Responsibility for Outcomes
title_sort positive interaction of social comparison and personal responsibility for outcomes
topic fMRI
envy
pride
regret
social comparison
url http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00025/full
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