Social Mindfulness Shown by Individuals With Higher Status Is More Pronounced in Our Brain: ERP Evidence

“Social mindfulness” refers to being thoughtful of others and considering their needs before making decisions, and can be characterized by low-cost and subtle gestures. The present study compared the behavioral and neural responses triggered by observing others’ socially mindful/unmindful choices an...

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Main Authors: Juanzhi Lu, Xiaoxuan Huang, Chong Liao, Qing Guan, Xin-Rui Qi, Fang Cui
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-01-01
Series:Frontiers in Neuroscience
Subjects:
ERP
FRN
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnins.2019.01432/full
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spelling doaj-95fd0c54378141a199d1fd98e2726d822020-11-25T01:11:22ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Neuroscience1662-453X2020-01-011310.3389/fnins.2019.01432495314Social Mindfulness Shown by Individuals With Higher Status Is More Pronounced in Our Brain: ERP EvidenceJuanzhi Lu0Xiaoxuan Huang1Chong Liao2Qing Guan3Xin-Rui Qi4Fang Cui5Fang Cui6Fang Cui7School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, ChinaSchool of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, ChinaSchool of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, ChinaSchool of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, ChinaCenter for Translational Neurodegeneration and Regenerative Therapy, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, ChinaSchool of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, ChinaShenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, ChinaCenter for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China“Social mindfulness” refers to being thoughtful of others and considering their needs before making decisions, and can be characterized by low-cost and subtle gestures. The present study compared the behavioral and neural responses triggered by observing others’ socially mindful/unmindful choices and how these responses were modulated by the social status of the agency. At the behavioral level, observing socially mindful choices made observers feel better, rate the actors as more likable, and behave more cooperatively than did observing socially unmindful choices. Analysis of event-related potentials in the brain revealed that compared with socially unmindful choices, mindful choices elicited more negative feedback-related negativity (FRN). Notably, while this effect of social mindfulness was only significant when the actor’s social status was medium and high, it was undetectable when the actor’s social status was low. These results demonstrate that the social mindfulness of others can be rapidly detected and processed, as reflected by FRN, even though it does not seem to receive further, more elaborate evaluation. These findings indicated that low-cost cooperative behaviors such as social mindfulness can also be detected and appreciated by our brain, which may result in better mood and more cooperative behaviors in the perceivers. Besides, the perception of social mindfulness is sensitive to important social information, such as social status.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnins.2019.01432/fullsocial mindfulnesslow-cost cooperationsocial statusERPFRN
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Juanzhi Lu
Xiaoxuan Huang
Chong Liao
Qing Guan
Xin-Rui Qi
Fang Cui
Fang Cui
Fang Cui
spellingShingle Juanzhi Lu
Xiaoxuan Huang
Chong Liao
Qing Guan
Xin-Rui Qi
Fang Cui
Fang Cui
Fang Cui
Social Mindfulness Shown by Individuals With Higher Status Is More Pronounced in Our Brain: ERP Evidence
Frontiers in Neuroscience
social mindfulness
low-cost cooperation
social status
ERP
FRN
author_facet Juanzhi Lu
Xiaoxuan Huang
Chong Liao
Qing Guan
Xin-Rui Qi
Fang Cui
Fang Cui
Fang Cui
author_sort Juanzhi Lu
title Social Mindfulness Shown by Individuals With Higher Status Is More Pronounced in Our Brain: ERP Evidence
title_short Social Mindfulness Shown by Individuals With Higher Status Is More Pronounced in Our Brain: ERP Evidence
title_full Social Mindfulness Shown by Individuals With Higher Status Is More Pronounced in Our Brain: ERP Evidence
title_fullStr Social Mindfulness Shown by Individuals With Higher Status Is More Pronounced in Our Brain: ERP Evidence
title_full_unstemmed Social Mindfulness Shown by Individuals With Higher Status Is More Pronounced in Our Brain: ERP Evidence
title_sort social mindfulness shown by individuals with higher status is more pronounced in our brain: erp evidence
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
series Frontiers in Neuroscience
issn 1662-453X
publishDate 2020-01-01
description “Social mindfulness” refers to being thoughtful of others and considering their needs before making decisions, and can be characterized by low-cost and subtle gestures. The present study compared the behavioral and neural responses triggered by observing others’ socially mindful/unmindful choices and how these responses were modulated by the social status of the agency. At the behavioral level, observing socially mindful choices made observers feel better, rate the actors as more likable, and behave more cooperatively than did observing socially unmindful choices. Analysis of event-related potentials in the brain revealed that compared with socially unmindful choices, mindful choices elicited more negative feedback-related negativity (FRN). Notably, while this effect of social mindfulness was only significant when the actor’s social status was medium and high, it was undetectable when the actor’s social status was low. These results demonstrate that the social mindfulness of others can be rapidly detected and processed, as reflected by FRN, even though it does not seem to receive further, more elaborate evaluation. These findings indicated that low-cost cooperative behaviors such as social mindfulness can also be detected and appreciated by our brain, which may result in better mood and more cooperative behaviors in the perceivers. Besides, the perception of social mindfulness is sensitive to important social information, such as social status.
topic social mindfulness
low-cost cooperation
social status
ERP
FRN
url https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnins.2019.01432/full
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