Processing of fair and unfair offers in the ultimatum game under social observation

Abstract

Social context influences social decisions and outcome processing, partially depending on inter-individual differences. The present study investigated social context-dependent modulation of behavior and feedback processing in the ultimatum game (UG) in relation to inter-individual differences in social anxiety. Thirty-two healthy adults completed the UG both under social observation and without observation. Offers were allegedly either randomly generated by the computer or drawn from a pool of offers from previous human players. Overall, fewer unfair than fair offers were accepted. Observation decreased acceptance rates for unfair offers. The feedback-locked feedback-related negativity (FRN) but not the P3 was modulated by observation and fairness, with stronger differential coding of unfair/fair under observation. This effect was strongly correlated with individual levels of social anxiety, with higher levels associated with stronger differential fairness coding in the FRN under observation. Behavioral findings support negative reciprocity in the UG, suggesting that (implicit) social norms overwrite explicit task instructions even in the absence of (alleged) social interaction. Observation enhances this effect. Fairness coding in the FRN was modulated by observation as a function of social anxiety, supporting the notion that altered sensitivity to equality in a social context may contribute to social avoidance in socially anxious individuals.

Social value orientation modulates the processing of outcome evaluation involving others

“…The P3 component often reflects a more exquisite and precise evaluation especially in coding the motivational significance of outcomes ( Taylor et al , 2006 ; Wu and Zhou, 2009 ). In the present study, the P3 amplitudes of the proselfs and prosocials were larger for self-gain than for self-loss, which is consistent with findings of previous studies regarding outcome evaluation ( Bellebaum et al , 2010 ; Holroyd et al , 2006 ; Peterburs et al , 2017 ). Importantly, as proselfs tend to think and act in an individually rational manner, they will feel delighted when their own outcome is positive regardless of the outcome valence of others.…”

Do emojis influence social interactions? Neural and behavioral responses to affective emojis in bargaining situations

“…As in various previous studies (Luo et al, ; Mussel et al, ; Peterburs et al, ), we could replicate the basic valence effects in the FRN, since a greater negativity for unfair offers compared to mildly fair and fair offers is also present in our study. It may be interpreted as a Rew‐P in response to the relatively fairer offer categories.…”

“…Another considerable aspect of P2 amplitudes is their relatedness to attention and attention sensitivity. Whereas Luck and Hillyard () initially found P2 to be sensitive to early attentional and perceptual resources, Peterburs et al () linked the P2 component to attention toward unexpected or improbable stimuli. Recently, Amodio () associated the P2 component to stimuli that are relevant for the perceiver's current goals.…”

The effect of emotionally valenced eye region images on visuocortical processing of surprised faces

“…It is common knowledge that the perception of facial expressions in social interactions is not just a simple psychological process, but is rather modulated by the social context, including interactive partners, direct and feedback‐related emotional information, self‐referential information, and individual differences (Klein, Iffland, Schindler, Wabnitz, & Neuner, ; Peterburs, Sandrock, Miltner, & Straube, ; Peterburs et al, ; Schilbach et al, ; Schindler & Kissler, ; Schindler, Wegrzyn, Steppacher, & Kissler, ; Wieser & Brosch, ). In the laboratory, emotionally contextual stimuli are typically provided by sentences (Kim et al, ; Morel, Beaucousin, Perrin, & George, ), scene pictures (Righart & de Gelder, ), body postures (Meeren, van Heijnsbergen, & de Gelder, ), and facial expressions (W. Li, Zinbarg, Boehm, & Paller, ; Neta, Davis, & Whalen, ).…”