The Moral and Social Brain Lab, Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan, 2, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences, ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
Sci Rep. 2022 Dec 19;12(1):21875. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-26460-z.
The aim of the present study was to offer a first investigation of the neuro-cognitive processes and the temporal dynamics at the neural level, together with cultural, social and psychological dimensions, that may support resistance to orders to harm another person. Using a novel experimental approach to study experimentally disobedience, we recruited individuals from the first generation born after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Seventy-two were recruited and tested in Rwanda and 72 were recruited and tested in Belgium. Results indicated that a higher neural response to the pain of others and a higher feeling of responsibility when people obeyed orders were associated with more resistance to immoral orders. We also observed that participants who had a higher processing, as measured through mid-frontal theta activity, when listening to the orders of the experimenter disobeyed less frequently to immoral orders. Further, participants experiencing a higher conflict before administering a shock to the 'victim' also disobeyed more frequently to immoral orders. Finally, a low cultural relationship to authority and a high estimated family suffering during the genocide were also associated with more disobedience to immoral orders. The present study opens new paths for interdisciplinary field research dedicated to the study of obedience.
本研究旨在从神经认知过程和神经水平的时间动态，以及文化、社会和心理维度，对抵抗伤害他人的命令进行首次调查。通过一种新的实验方法来研究实验性的不服从，我们招募了在 1994 年卢旺达种族灭绝后出生的第一代人。在卢旺达招募并测试了 72 人，在比利时招募并测试了 72 人。结果表明，当人们服从命令时，对他人痛苦的神经反应越高，责任感越强，对不道德命令的抵制就越强。我们还观察到，当参与者在听从实验者的命令时，额区θ频段活动的处理水平较高，他们对不道德命令的不服从程度也较低。此外，在给“受害者”电击前经历较高冲突的参与者，也更频繁地不服从不道德的命令。最后，与权威的低文化关系和种族灭绝期间家庭遭受的高估计也与对不道德命令的更高程度的不服从有关。本研究为致力于研究服从的跨学科领域研究开辟了新的道路。
