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Social Comparison Affects Reward-Related Brain Activity in the Human Ventral Striatum

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Fliessbach, K., Weber, B., Trautner, P., Dohmen, T., Sunde, U., Elger, C. E., Falk, A.·2007·Science

Abstract

Whether social comparison affects individual well-being is of central importance for understanding behavior in any social environment. Traditional economic theories focus on the role of absolute rewards, whereas behavioral evidence suggests that social comparisons influence well-being and decisions. We investigated the impact of social comparisons on reward-related brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). While being scanned in two adjacent MRI scanners, pairs of subjects had to simultaneously perform a simple estimation task that entailed monetary rewards for correct answers. We show that a variation in the comparison subject's payment affects blood oxygenation level–dependent responses in the ventral striatum. Our results provide neurophysiological evidence for the importance of social comparison on reward processing in the human brain.

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Show all 8 references

Research works printed but not linked: 17

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Metadata

Authors
Fliessbach, K., Weber, B., Trautner, P., Dohmen, T., Sunde, U., Elger, C. E., & Falk, A.
Venue
Science
Published
2007-11-23
Volume
318
Issue
5854
Pages
1305-1308
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W2005420538
Cited by
646
References
8
FWCI
15.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Social Comparison Affects Reward-Related Brain Activity in the Human Ventral Striatum. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1126/science.1145876
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Fliessbach, K., Weber, B., Trautner, P., Dohmen, T., Sunde, U., Elger, C. E., & Falk, A. (2007). Social Comparison Affects Reward-Related Brain Activity in the Human Ventral Striatum. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1145876

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