Cited by 821Action Observation and SynchronizationSocial and Intergroup PsychologyNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Neural responses to ingroup and outgroup members' suffering predict individual differences in costly helping

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Hein, Grit, Silani, Giorgia, Preuschoff, Kerstin, Batson, C. Daniel, Singer, Tania·2010·Neuron

Abstract

Little is known about the neurobiological mechanisms underlying prosocial decisions and how they are modulated by social factors such as perceived group membership. The present study investigates the neural processes preceding the willingness to engage in costly helping toward ingroup and outgroup members. Soccer fans witnessed a fan of their favorite team (ingroup member) or of a rival team (outgroup member) experience pain. They were subsequently able to choose to help the other by enduring physical pain themselves to reduce the other's pain. Helping the ingroup member was best predicted by anterior insula activation when seeing him suffer and by associated self-reports of empathic concern. In contrast, not helping the outgroup member was best predicted by nucleus accumbens activation and the degree of negative evaluation of the other. We conclude that empathy-related insula activation can motivate costly helping, whereas an antagonistic signal in nucleus accumbens reduces the propensity to help.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.09.003

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  • Outgroup pain is related to enhanced activity in the reward system (e.g., ventral striatum and nucleus accumbens).

    “Outgroup pain, on the other hand, is related to enhanced activity in the reward system (e.g., the ventral striatum and nucleus accumbens [Hein et al., 2010; Cikara et al., 2011; Luo et al., 2015]).”

    From A neurobiological association of revenge propensity during intergroup conflict (2020) · cites this paper as Hein et al., 2010

  • Activity in the nucleus accumbens predicts decisions not to help outgroup members.

    “and the activity in the nucleus accumbens predicts decisions not to help outgroup members (Hein et al., 2010; Luo et al., 2015).”

    From A neurobiological association of revenge propensity during intergroup conflict (2020) · cites this paper as Hein et al., 2010

  • Previous fMRI studies have identified increased activity in both the empathy network (e.g., aMCC and AI) and the theory-of-mind network (e.g., mPFC and TPJ) in response to ingroup pain.

    “Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have identified increased activity in both the empathy network (e.g., the anterior midcingulate [aMCC] and anterior insula [AI]) and the theory-of-mind network (e.g., the medial prefrontal cortex [mPFC] and the temporoparietal junction [TPJ]) in response to ingroup pain (Hein et al., 2010; Cikara et al., 2011; Han, 2018).”

    From A neurobiological association of revenge propensity during intergroup conflict (2020) · cites this paper as Hein et al., 2010

  • mPFC activity in response to perceived pain is associated with decisions to help ingroup members.

    “In addition, the mPFC activity in response to perceived pain is associated with decisions to help ingroup members (Hein et al., 2010; Mathur et al., 2010)”

    From A neurobiological association of revenge propensity during intergroup conflict (2020) · cites this paper as Hein et al., 2010

  • Neither the Revenge group nor the Control group showed activations in the reward system when viewing outgroup members' suffering.

    “Although previous research has shown that viewing outgroup pain can activate the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and greater NAcc activity predicted less motivation to help outgroup members (Hein et al., 2010; Luo et al., 2015), neither the Revenge group nor the Control group in our work showed activations in the reward system when viewing outgroup members' suffering.”

    From A neurobiological association of revenge propensity during intergroup conflict (2020) · cites this paper as Hein et al., 2010

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Authors
Hein, G., Silani, G., Preuschoff, K., Batson, C. D., & Singer, T.
Affiliations
  • University of Zurich (CH)
  • University of Kansas (US)
  • Max Planck Society (DE)
Corresponding author
Hein, Grit
Venue
Neuron
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2010-10
Volume
68
Issue
1
Pages
149-160
ISSN
0896-6273 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1973030362
Cited by
821
References
65
Citations by year
2026: 27 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 58 · 2023: 70 · 2022: 47 · 2021: 53 · 2020: 88 · 2019: 43 · 2018: 81 · 2017: 52 · 2016: 49 · 2015: 57 · 2014: 43 · 2013: 61 · 2012: 28
FWCI
48.54
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Neuron (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
  • Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
costly helping, in-group favoritism, out-group bias, empathy, anterior insula, nucleus accumbens, empathic concern, pain perception, prosocial decision-making, intergroup conflict, football fans
MeSH terms
Adult, Brain, Brain Mapping, Empathy, Group Processes, Helping Behavior, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Individuality, Interpersonal Relations, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Oxygen, Pain, Predictive Value of Tests, Surveys and Questionnaires, Social Identification, Stress, Psychological, Young Adult

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