When the brain says “No!”: An MRI study on the neural correlates of resistance to immoral orders

Abstract

Milgram's studies explored psychological and contextual factors influencing (dis)obedience to immoral orders, but the mechanisms preventing individuals from being coerced into causing pain to others remained largely unknown. Our fMRI study investigated the neural correlates of disobedience to immoral orders, focusing on three socio-cognitive (response conflict, sense of agency – SoA, and theory of mind – ToM) and two socio-affective (empathy and guilt) processes. Our findings revealed that only participants disengaging angular gyrus and median prefrontal areas to mitigate response conflict between self and other and enhance their SoA, were able to focus on their moral judgment, ultimately disobeying experimenter’s instructions to send a shock to a victim. Additionally, we found that an involvement of social brain regions (encompassing ToM, empathy, and guilt areas), especially in response to shock events, favored subsequent disobedience. This study sheds light on the mechanisms that enable individuals to resist immorality under authoritative pressure.