Neurophysiology Leadership Laboratory, Technical University München-School of Management, Chair of Research and Science Management, Munich, Germany.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Technical University München-School of Management, Chair of Research and Science Management, Head of Neurophysiology Leadership Laboratory, Munich, Germany.
PLoS One. 2022 Oct 7;17(10):e0274837. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274837. eCollection 2022.
While some individuals tend to follow norms, others, in the face of tempting but forbidden options, tend to commit rule-breaking when this action is beneficial for themselves. Previous studies have neglected such interindividual differences in rule-breaking. The present study fills this gap by investigating cognitive characteristics of individuals who commit spontaneous deliberative rule-breaking (rule-breakers) versus rule-followers. We developed a computerised task, in which 133 participants were incentivised to sometimes violate set rules which would-if followed-lead to a loss. While 52% of participants tended to break rules to obtain a benefit, 48% tended to follow rules even if this behaviour led to loss. Although rule-breakers experienced significantly more cognitive conflict (measured via response times and mouse movement trajectories) than rule-followers, they also obtained higher payoffs. In rule-breakers, cognitive conflict was more pronounced when violating the rules than when following them, and mainly during action planning. This conflict increased with frequent, recurrent, and early rule-breaking. Our results were in line with the Decision-Implementation-Mandatory switch-Inhibition model and thus extend the application of this model to the interindividual differences in rule-breaking. Furthermore, personality traits such as extroversion, disagreeableness, risk propensity, high impulsiveness seem to play a role in the appreciation of behaviours and cognitive characteristics of rule-followers and rule-breakers. This study opens the path towards the understanding of the cognitive characteristics of the interindividual differences in responses towards rules, and especially in spontaneous deliberative rule-breaking.
虽然有些人倾向于遵循规范，但另一些人在面对诱人但被禁止的选择时，会在这种行为对自己有利的情况下违反规则。以前的研究忽视了这种违反规则的个体差异。本研究通过调查自发深思熟虑地违反规则（违规者）与遵守规则者的认知特征来填补这一空白。我们开发了一个计算机化的任务，其中 133 名参与者受到激励，有时会违反规定，如果遵守规定，他们会损失。虽然 52%的参与者倾向于违反规则以获得利益，但 48%的参与者倾向于遵守规则，即使这种行为会导致损失。尽管违规者经历了显著更多的认知冲突（通过反应时间和鼠标运动轨迹来衡量），但他们也获得了更高的回报。在违规者中，违反规则时的认知冲突比遵守规则时更为明显，主要是在行动规划期间。这种冲突随着频繁、反复和早期的违规行为而增加。我们的结果与决策-执行-强制性切换-抑制模型一致，因此将该模型应用于违反规则的个体差异。此外，外向、不友善、冒险倾向、高冲动性等人格特质似乎在对遵守规则和违反规则者的行为和认知特征的评价中发挥作用。这项研究为理解对规则的反应的个体差异的认知特征，特别是自发深思熟虑地违反规则的认知特征开辟了道路。
