Department of Social Neuroscience and Social Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
CREED, Amsterdam School of Economics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Hum Brain Mapp. 2021 Dec 1;42(17):5703-5717. doi: 10.1002/hbm.25648. Epub 2021 Sep 15.
The act of punishing unfair behavior by unaffected observers (i.e., third-party punishment) is a crucial factor in the functioning of human societies. In everyday life, we see different types of individuals who punish. While some individuals initiate costly punishment against an unfair person independently of what other observers do (independent punishers), others condition their punishment engagement on the presence of another person who punishes (conditional punishers). Still others do not want to partake in any sort of punishment (nonpunishers). Although these distinct behavioral types have a divergent impact on human society, the sources of heterogeneity are poorly understood. We present novel laboratory evidence on the existence of these three types. We use anatomical brain characteristics in combination with stated motives to characterize these types. Findings revealed that independent punishers have larger gray matter volume in the right temporo-parietal junction compared to conditional punishers and nonpunishers, an area involved in social cognition. Conditional punishers are characterized by larger gray matter volume in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a brain area known to be involved in behavioral control and strategic reasoning, compared to independent punishers and nonpunishers. Finally, both independent punishers and nonpunishers are characterized by larger gray matter volume in an area involved in the processing of social and monetary rewards, that is, the bilateral caudate. By using a neural trait approach, we were able to differentiate these three types clearly based on their neural signatures, allowing us to shed light on the underlying psychological mechanisms.
旁观者对不公平行为进行惩罚（即第三方惩罚）是人类社会运转的关键因素。在日常生活中，我们会看到不同类型的人会进行惩罚。有些个体独立于其他观察者的行为而对不公正的人发起高代价的惩罚（独立惩罚者），而有些个体则根据另一个实施惩罚的人是否在场来决定是否进行惩罚（条件惩罚者）。还有一些个体则完全不愿意参与任何形式的惩罚（不惩罚者）。尽管这些不同的行为类型对人类社会有着不同的影响，但它们的异质性来源仍不清楚。我们提供了关于这三种类型存在的新的实验室证据。我们结合陈述的动机，使用大脑解剖学特征来描述这些类型。研究结果表明，与条件惩罚者和不惩罚者相比，独立惩罚者右侧颞顶联合区的灰质体积更大，而该区域与社会认知有关。与独立惩罚者和不惩罚者相比，条件惩罚者右侧背外侧前额叶皮质的灰质体积更大，该区域与行为控制和策略推理有关。最后，独立惩罚者和不惩罚者都具有更大的灰质体积，该区域与社会和金钱奖励的处理有关，即双侧尾状核。通过使用神经特征方法，我们能够根据他们的神经特征清楚地区分这三种类型，从而揭示潜在的心理机制。
