The neural basis of the Machiavellians’ decision making in fair and unfair situations

Bereczkei, Tamás; Papp, Péter; Kincses, Péter; Bodrogi, Barbara; Perlaki, Gábor; Orsi, Gergely; Deák, Anita

doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2015.05.006

Cited by 24 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 73 publications

(102 reference statements)

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“…This result coincides with the findings of a recent fMRI study (Bereczkei et al, 2015) revealing that the social environment involving opportunities for exploiting others may be more demanding for Machiavellians. They showed elevated brain activities in the fair condition (where the partner made a cooperative initiation) but not in the unfair condition (in which the others did not reciprocate).…”

Section: Competitive Versus Cooperative Conditionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Abusing Good Intentions

2015

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The present study aims to understand how Machiavellians switch from one kind of response to another in different circumstances to maximize their profit. We set up a specific experimental paradigm that involved both a cooperative and competitive version of a public goods game. We found that Machiavellianism accounts for the total amount of money paid by the players (N = 144) across five rounds in the cooperative but not in the competitive game. Compared with the others, individuals with higher scores on Mach scale contributed less to the public goods in the cooperative condition, but no difference was found in the competitive condition. Finally, this relationship was influenced by the sequence of the games. These results indicate that Machiavellians skillfully evaluate social environments and strive to exploit those with abundant contributions to public goods.

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Section: Competitive Versus Cooperative Conditionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Abusing Good Intentions

2015

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“…Based on the widely accepted function of goal maintenance and executive control of DLPFC 47 , 48 , the DLPFC activation in the UG associated with rejection of unfair offers was interpreted to be related to the executive control of self-interested impulses 1 , 13 , 14 , 29 , 30 . An fMRI study using a trust game showed higher DLPFC activity for Machiavellians when their partner gave a cooperative offers in the previous round, which was interpreted to be associated with cognitive control of the reciprocal answer to the partner’s cooperative initiative to maximize their own benefits 49 . Recently, based on the results from their own studies and other evidence against a pure cognitive control model, Buckholtz et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender Differences in Behavioral and Neural Responses to Unfairness Under Social Pressure

Zheng

Ning

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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Numerous studies have revealed the key role of social pressure on individuals’ decision-making processes. However, the impact of social pressure on unfairness-related decision-making processes remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated how social pressure modulated men’s and women’s responses in an ultimatum game. Twenty women and eighteen men played the ultimatum game as responders in the scanner, where fair and unfair offers were tendered by proposers acting alone (low pressure) or by proposers endorsed by three supporters (high pressure). Results showed that men rejected more, whereas women accepted more unfair offers in the high versus low pressure context. Neurally, pregenual anterior cingulate cortex activation in women positively predicted their acceptance rate difference between contexts. In men, stronger right anterior insula activation and increased connectivity between right anterior insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex were observed when they receiving unfair offers in the high than low pressure context. Furthermore, more bilateral anterior insula and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activations were found when men rejected (relative to accepted) unfair offers in the high than low pressure context. These findings highlighted gender differences in the modulation of behavioral and neural responses to unfairness by social pressure.

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“…As compared with low-Mach people, they showed increased neural activation of the right anterior insula and right inferior frontal gyrus, which are involved in responses to emotional and stressful situations (Bereczkei, Deak, Papp, Perlaki, & Orsi 2013). Another study found elevated anterior DLPFC activity in Machiavellians; this region is thought to be responsible for the cognitive control of prepotent emotional responses (Bereczkei et al, 2015). A structural magnetic resonance imaging study revealed differences between people with high and low Mach scores in the basal ganglia (a reward center), left PFC (regulation of negative feelings), and insula (suppression of negative emotions; Verbeke et al, 2011).…”

Section: Machiavellianismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Machiavellian emotion regulation in a cognitive reappraisal task: An fMRI study

Deák

Bodrogi

Biro

et al. 2017

Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci

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Affective coldness is one of the main features of Machiavellianism. Recent studies have revealed that Machiavellians are emotionally detached and that this "affective blunting" is associated with intense feelings, emotional instability, negative emotions, and difficulty in enduring distress. We used brain-imaging techniques to investigate emotion regulation in Machiavellianism at a neuropsychological level. We used situations in which participants were required to demonstrate emotional flexibility to explore the controversy surrounding the fact that Machiavellianism is associated with both cold-mindedness and emotional instability. Participants performed a reappraisal task in which emotionally evocative pictures (from the International Affective Picture System) were presented in different contexts (negative, positive, and neutral). They were asked to interpret a scenario according to its title and to reinterpret it according to another context created by a new title (e.g., negatively labeled pictures shifted to positively labeled ones). During task performance, Machiavellians showed increased activation of brain regions associated with emotion generation-for example, the amygdala and insula. This indicates that Machiavellian individuals are able to be involved emotionally in social situations. Increased activation in the temporal and parahippocampal regions during reappraisal suggests that Machiavellians use semantic-perceptual processes to construct alternative interpretations of the same situation and have enhanced memory for emotional stimuli. Furthermore, they seem to possess an intense awareness that leads them to shift attention from external to internal information to detect environmental changes. These cognitive processes may enable them to adjust their behavior quickly. This study supports the flexibility hypothesis of Machiavellianism and suggests that Machiavellians' approach to emotion regulation is linked to their rational mode of thinking.

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The neural basis of the Machiavellians’ decision making in fair and unfair situations

Cited by 24 publications

References 73 publications

Abusing Good Intentions

Abusing Good Intentions

Gender Differences in Behavioral and Neural Responses to Unfairness Under Social Pressure

Machiavellian emotion regulation in a cognitive reappraisal task: An fMRI study

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