Title
When "Your" reward is the same as "My" reward: Self-construal priming shifts neural responses to own vs. friends' rewards.
Abstract
Is it possible for neural responses to others' rewards to be as strong as those for the self? Although prior fMRI studies have demonstrated that watching others get rewards can activate one's own reward centers, such vicarious reward activation has always been less strong than responses to rewards for oneself. In the present study we manipulated participants' self-construal (independent vs. interdependent) and found that, when an independent self-construal was primed, subjects showed greater activation in the bilateral ventral striatum in response to winning money for the self (vs. for a friend) during a gambling game. However, priming an interdependent self-construal resulted in comparable activation in these regions in response to winning money for the self and for a friend. Our findings suggest that interdependence may cause people to experience rewards for a close other as strongly as they experience rewards for the self.
Year
DOI
Venue
2014
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.10.042
NeuroImage
Keywords
Field
DocType
Vicarious reward,fMRI,Self-construal priming,Ventral striatum,Insula
Social psychology,Brain mapping,Insula,Developmental psychology,Ventral striatum,Psychology,Cognitive psychology,Priming (psychology),Self,Construal level theory,Self-concept
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
87
null
1053-8119
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
5
0.53
3
Authors
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Michael E W Varnum150.53
Zhenhao Shi250.87
Antao Chen350.53
Jiang Qiu4154.69
Shihui Han513218.96