Beyond revenge: Neural and genetic bases of altruistic punishment

Strobel, Alexander; Zimmermann, Jan; Schmitz, Anja; Reuter, Martin; Lis, Stefanie; Windmann, Sabine; Kirsch, Peter

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.07.051

Cited by 220 publications

(188 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…We report results in a priori regions of interests (previously defined in neuroimaging studies on punishment [Buckholtz et al, 2008;de Quervain et al, 2004;Knoch et al, 2006;Sanfey et al, 2003;Spitzer et al, 2007;Strobel et al, 2011] and mentalizing [Van Overwalle 2009]): OFG, right lateral PFC, caudatus, DMPFC, TPJ where activations are significant at P < 0.005 uncorrected for multiple comparisons with an extent threshold of 10 voxels [Lieberman and Cunningham, 2009], and survive small volume corrections (SVC) for multiple comparisons (or family-wise error [FWE] corrections across the whole brain). The SVC procedure, as implemented in SPM5 using the FWE correction procedure (P < 0.05), allows results to be corrected for multiple nonindependent comparisons with a defined region of interest.…”

Section: Fmri-analyses: Statistical Inferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although recent studies have fundamentally improved our knowledge of how the brain modulates norm compliance [Baumgartner et al, 2008[Baumgartner et al, , 2009Delgado et al, 2005;Harbaugh et al, 2007;King-Casas et al, 2005;Rilling et al, 2002;Spitzer et al, 2007] and norm enforcement [Buckholtz et al, 2008;de Quervain et al, 2004;Fehr and Camerer, 2007;Knoch et al, 2006Knoch et al, , 2008Rangel et al, 2008;Sanfey, 2007;Sanfey et al, 2003;Strobel et al, 2011] they do not examine the parochial nature of this phenomena. There is also an important literature examining the neural circuitry of the cognitions involved in the evaluation of faces from distinct races [Cunningham et al, 2004;Golby et al, 2001;Phelps et al, 2000], the judgment of people belonging to other races [Eberhardt, 2005;Freeman et al, 2010;Ito and Bartholow, 2009;Lieberman et al, 2005;Richeson et al, 2003], prejudice [Beer et al, 2008], the evaluation of very poor and ''disgusting'' outgroups such as addicts and beggars in dirty clothes [Harris and Fiske, 2006], and the general evaluation of ingroup-outgroup interactions [Mathur et al, 2010;Van Bavel et al, 2008] but none of the individuals in these studies had to make costly punishment decisions that involved real costs and benefits for themselves or for others.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The mentalizing network orchestrates the impact of parochial altruism on social norm enforcement

Baumgärtner

Götte

Gugler

et al. 2011

Human Brain Mapping

157

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Parochial altruism-a preference for altruistic behavior towards ingroup members and mistrust or hostility towards outgroup members-is a pervasive feature in human society and strongly shapes the enforcement of social norms. Since the uniqueness of human society critically depends on the enforcement of norms, the understanding of the neural circuitry of the impact of parochial altruism on social norm enforcement is key, but unexplored. To fill this gap, we measured brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while subjects had the opportunity to punish ingroup members and outgroup members for violating social norms. Findings revealed that subjects' strong punishment of defecting outgroup members is associated with increased activity in a functionally connected network involved in sanction-related decisions (right orbitofrontal gyrus, right lateral prefrontal cortex, right dorsal caudatus). Moreover, the stronger the connectivity in this network, the more outgroup members are punished. In contrast, the much weaker punishment of ingroup members who committed the very same norm violation is associated with increased activity and connectivity in the mentalizing-network (dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, bilateral temporo-parietal junction), as if subjects tried to understand or justify ingroup members' behavior. Finally, connectivity analyses between the two networks suggest that the mentalizing-network modulates punishment by affecting the activity in the right orbitofrontal gyrus and right lateral prefrontal cortex, notably in the same areas showing enhanced activity and connectivity whenever third-parties strongly punished defecting outgroup members.

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Section: Fmri-analyses: Statistical Inferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The mentalizing network orchestrates the impact of parochial altruism on social norm enforcement

Baumgärtner

Götte

Gugler

et al. 2011

Human Brain Mapping

157

150

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Despite several endeavors to identify underlying motives, brain processes, and genetic underpinnings (Fehr & Gächter, 2002;de Quervain et al, 2004;Strobel et al, 2011), our understanding of the driving forces for altruistic punishment is still limited, and thus further research on altruistic punishment is needed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to measure altruistic punishment with a Dictator Game, a particular variant can be played, where the recipient has the opportunity to punish unfair allocations at the expense of his payoff. Additionally, the allocations in such a Dictator Game can either be examined when individuals are directly affected by the assignment -from a first person perspective -or when they observe someone receiving an assignment from a third party perspective (Fehr & Fischbacher, 2004a;Strobel et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Empirically, however, it has been shown that dictators in the Dictator Game offer recipients on average 25 % of the total sum (Camerer, 1997). Moreover, it has been observed that dictators were punished for allocations which were less than half of the original sum both by players from a first person and third party perspective (Fehr & Fischbacher, 2004a;Strobel et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The interplay between feedback-related negativity and individual differences in altruistic punishment: An EEG study

Mothes

Enge

Strobel

2015

Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci

Self Cite

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To date, the interplay betwexen neurophysiological and individual difference factors in altruistic punishment has been little understood. To examine this issue, 45 individuals participated in a Dictator Game with punishment option while the feedback-related negativity (FRN) was derived from the electroencephalogram (EEG). Unlike previous EEG studies on the Dictator Game, we introduced a third party condition to study the effect of fairness norm violations in addition to employing a first person perspective. For the first time, we also examined the role of individual differences, specifically fairness concerns, positive/negative affectivity, and altruism/ empathy as well as recipients' financial situation during altruistic punishment. The main results show that FRN amplitudes were more pronounced for unfair than for fair assignments in both the first person and third party perspectives. These findings suggest that FRN amplitudes are sensitive to fairness norm violations and play a crucial role in the recipients' evaluation of dictator assignments. With respect to individual difference factors, recipients' current financial situation affected the FRN fairness effect in the first person perspective, indicating that when being directly affected by the assignments, more affluent participants experienced stronger violations of expectations in altruistic punishment decisions. Regarding individual differences in trait empathy, in the third party condition FRN amplitudes were more pronounced for those who scored lower in empathy. This may suggest empathy as another motive in third party punishment. Independent of the perspective taken, higher positive affect was associated with more punishment behavior, suggesting that positive emotions may play an important role in restoring violated fairness norms.

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Neuroscience of Moral Action

2023

Taking Moral Action

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Beyond revenge: Neural and genetic bases of altruistic punishment

Cited by 220 publications

References 42 publications

The mentalizing network orchestrates the impact of parochial altruism on social norm enforcement

The mentalizing network orchestrates the impact of parochial altruism on social norm enforcement

The interplay between feedback-related negativity and individual differences in altruistic punishment: An EEG study

Neuroscience of Moral Action

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