Reduced self-referential neural response during intergroup competition predicts competitor harm
Open accessAbstract
Why do interactions become more hostile when social relations shift from "me versus you" to "us versus them"? One possibility is that acting with a group can reduce spontaneous self-referential processing in the moral domain and, in turn, facilitate competitor harm. We tested this hypothesis in an fMRI experiment in which (i) participants performed a competitive task once alone and once with a group; (ii) spontaneous self-referential processing during competition was indexed unobtrusively by activation in an independently localized region of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) associated with self-reference; and (iii) we assessed participants' willingness to harm competitors versus teammates. As predicted, participants who showed reduced mPFC activation in response to descriptions of their own moral behaviors while competing in a group were more willing to harm competitors. These results suggest that intergroup competition (above and beyond inter-personal competition) can reduce self-referential processing of moral information, enabling harmful behaviors towards members of a competitive group.
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The medial prefrontal cortex has been shown to be engaged during tasks which require making specific judgments about both one's own traits and those of others.
“The mPFC has been shown to be engaged during tasks which require making specific judgments about both one's own traits and those of others' [Cikara et al., 2014;Kim andJohnson, 2012, 2014;Yang et al., 2012].”
From Oxytocin blurs the self-other distinction during trait judgments and reduces medial prefrontal cortex responses: Oxytocin Blurs Self-Other Distinction (2016) · cites this paper as Cikara et al., 2014
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- Authors
- Cikara, M., Jenkins, A. C., Dufour, N., & Saxe, R.
- Affiliations
- Carnegie Mellon University (US)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cikara, M.
- Venue
- NeuroImage
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-08
- Volume
- 96
- Pages
- 36-43
- ISSN
- 1053-8119 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4043933
- OpenAlex
- W2137483343
- Cited by
- 67
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 35 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 2.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- NeuroImage (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- PMC
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (1F32HD068086-01A1)
- Office of Naval Research (N000140910845)
- Packard Foundation
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Keywords
- intergroup competition, self-referential processing, medial prefrontal cortex, moral judgment, group identity, in-group favoritism, social identity, competitive behavior
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Brain Mapping, Competitive Behavior, Female, Hate, Humans, Judgment, Male, Morals, Self Concept, Social Behavior, Social Control, Informal, Moral Obligations, Harm Reduction, Young Adult
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