Li Mei, Li Jin, Zhang Guanfei, Fan Wei, Li Hong, Zhong Yiping
School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; Department of Psychology, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China; Cognition and Human behaviour Key Laboratory of Hunan Province, China.
Department of Psychology, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China; Cognition and Human behaviour Key Laboratory of Hunan Province, China.
Biol Psychol. 2023 Mar;178:108519. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2023.108519. Epub 2023 Feb 16.
Pro-environmental behavior benefits the environment but is individually costly. Therefore, understanding the neural processes of pro-environmental behavior can advance our knowledge of its implicit cost-benefit calculations and mechanisms. Previous studies have focused separately on the effects of social distance and social observation on explicit pro-environmental behavior responses, yet the underlying neurophysiological mechanism remains unknown. Using the event-related potentials (ERPs), we investigated the neural responses to the effects of social distance and social observation on pro-environmental behavior. Participants were instructed to decide between self-interest and pro-environmental choices towards different social distance targets (family members, acquaintances, or strangers) under observable and non-observable conditions. The behavioral results demonstrated that the rate of pro-environmental choices towards acquaintances and strangers was higher under the observable condition than under the non-observable condition. Nonetheless, the rate of pro-environmental choices was higher-unaffected by social observation-towards family members than towards acquaintances and strangers. The ERP results showed that the P2 and P3 amplitudes were smaller under the observable than under the non-observable condition when the potential bearers of environmental decisions were acquaintances and strangers. However, this difference did not emerge when the potential bearers of environmental decisions were family members. The ERP findings of smaller P2 and P3 amplitudes suggest that social observation may reduce the deliberate calculation of personal costs, thereby promoting individuals' pro-environmental behaviors towards acquaintances and strangers.
亲环境行为有益于环境，但对个人来说成本较高。因此，了解亲环境行为的神经过程可以增进我们对其隐含的成本效益计算和机制的认识。以往的研究分别聚焦于社会距离和社会观察对明确的亲环境行为反应的影响，但其潜在的神经生理机制仍然未知。我们使用事件相关电位（ERP）来研究社会距离和社会观察对亲环境行为影响的神经反应。参与者被要求在可观察和不可观察的条件下，针对不同社会距离的目标（家庭成员、熟人或陌生人）在自身利益和亲环境选择之间做出决定。行为结果表明，在可观察条件下，对熟人和陌生人做出亲环境选择的比例高于不可观察条件下的比例。尽管如此，对家庭成员做出亲环境选择的比例更高，且不受社会观察的影响，高于对熟人和陌生人的比例。ERP结果显示，当环境决策的潜在承担者是熟人和陌生人时，可观察条件下的P2和P3波幅小于不可观察条件下的波幅。然而，当环境决策的潜在承担者是家庭成员时，这种差异并未出现。P2和P3波幅较小的ERP研究结果表明，社会观察可能会减少对个人成本的刻意计算，从而促进个体对熟人和陌生人的亲环境行为。
