Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

Activity in the amygdala elicited by unfair divisions predicts social value orientation

Abstract

'Social value orientation' characterizes individual differences in anchoring attitudes toward the division of resources. Here, by contrasting people with prosocial and individualistic orientations using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we demonstrate that degree of inequity aversion in prosocials is predictable from amygdala activity and unaffected by cognitive load. This result suggests that automatic emotional processing in the amygdala lies at the core of prosocial value orientation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Task design and behavior.
Figure 2: Difference between prosocials and individualists in the correlation of brain activity with the absolute value of reward difference Da.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Van Lange, P.A.M. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 77, 337–349 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Bogaert, S., Boone, C. & Declerck, C. Br. J. Soc. Psychol. 43, 457–480 (2008).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Knoch, D. & Fehr, E. Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 1104, 123–134 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Haidt, J. Psychol. Rev. 108, 814–834 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Sanfey, A.G., Rilling, J.K., Aronson, J.A., Nystrom, L.E. & Cohen, J.D. Science 300, 1755–1758 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Hsu, M., Anen, C. & Quartz, S.R. Science 320, 1092–1095 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Tabibnia, G., Satpute, A.B. & Lieberman, M.D. Psychol. Sci. 19, 339–347 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Adolphs, R., Baron-Cohen, S. & Tranel, D. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 14, 1264–1274 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Friston, K.J. et al. Hum. Brain Mapp. 2, 189–210 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Whalen, P.J. et al. in The Human Amygdala (eds. Phelps, E.A. & Whalen, P.J.), 43–60 (Guilford, New York, 2009).

  11. Rushworth, M.F. & Behrens, T.E. Nat. Neurosci. 11, 389–397 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. O'Doherty, J. et al. Science 304, 452–454 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Haruno, M. & Kawato, M. J. Neurophysiol. 95, 948–959 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Valdesolo, P. & Desteno, D. J. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 44, 1334–1338 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. de Quervain, D.J.F. et al. Science 305, 1254–1258 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank S. Tada and Y. Furukawa for technical assistance. This research was supported by the Strategic Research Program for Brain Sciences (SRPBS) and Tamagawa University Global Center of Excellence grant from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Japan. M.H. was supported by the Royal Society of UK, and C.D.F. was supported by the Danish National Research Foundation and the Arts and Humanities Research Council Consciousness in a Natural and Cultural Context scheme (AHE511112/1).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Masahiko Haruno.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Figures 1–10, Supplementary Tables 1–2 and Supplementary Methods (PDF 592 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Haruno, M., Frith, C. Activity in the amygdala elicited by unfair divisions predicts social value orientation. Nat Neurosci 13, 160–161 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2468

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2468

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing