No abstract

To investigate the time course of the neural processing of facial attractiveness and its influence on fairness consideration during social interactions, event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded from 21 male subjects performing a two-person Ultimatum Game (UG). During this bargaining game, the male subjects played responders who decided whether to accept offers from female proposers, whose facial images (grouped as “attractive” and “unattractive”) were presented prior to the offer presentation. The behavioral data demonstrated that the acceptance ratio increased with the fairness level of the offers and, more importantly, the subjects were more likely to accept unfair offers when presented with the attractive-face condition compared with the unattractive-face condition. The reaction times (RTs) for five offers (1:9, 2:8, 3:7, 4:6, and 5:5) in the unattractive-face condition were not significantly different. In contrast, the subjects reacted slower to the attractive proposers' unfair offers and quicker to fair offers. The ERP analysis of the face presentation demonstrated a decreased early negativity (N2) and enhanced late positive potentials (LPPs) elicited by the attractive faces compared with the unattractive faces. In addition, the feedback-related negativity (FRN) in response to an offer presentation was not significantly different for the unfair (1:9 and 2:8) and fair (4:6 and 5:5) offers in the attractive-face condition. However, the unfair offers generated larger FRNs compared with the fair offers in the unattractive-face condition (consistent with prior studies). A similar effect was identified for P300. The present study demonstrated an undermining effect of proposer facial attractiveness on responder consideration of offer fairness during the UG.

No abstract

According to self-determination theory (SDT), competence is among the three basic psychological needs essential for one’s well-being and optimal functioning, and the frustration of these needs is theoretically predicted to induce a restorative response. While previous studies have explored the restoration process of autonomy and relatedness, empirical evidence for such a process is still lacking for competence. In order to explore this process and to examine the effect of prior competence frustration on one’s motivation to win in a subsequent competence-supportive task, we adopted a between-group experimental design and manipulated one’s competence frustration through task difficulty in an electrophysiological study. Participants in both groups were instructed to work on the time-estimation task and the stop-watch task in two successive sessions respectively. Participants in the experimental group were asked to complete a highly difficult task in the first session and a task of medium difficulty in the second session, while those in the control group were instructed to work on tasks of medium difficulty in both sessions. In the second session, an enlarged feedback-related negativity (FRN) loss-win difference wave (d-FRN) was observed in the experimental group compared to the control group, indicating that the competence-frustrated participants have an enhanced motivation to win in a subsequent competence-supportive task. Thus, results of the present study provided original neural evidence for the restoration process of frustrated competence, which provided important guidelines for the managerial practice.