Abstract
Successful social relationships require a consideration of a partner's thoughts and intentions. This aspect of social life is captured in the social mindfulness paradigm (SoMi task), in which participants make decisions that either limit or preserve options for their interaction partner's subsequent choice. Here we investigated the neural correlates of spontaneous socially mindful and unmindful behaviours. Functional magnetic resonance data were acquired from 47 healthy adolescents and young adults (age 16–27) as they completed the SoMi task. Being faced with socially relevant choices was associated with activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, caudate, and insula, which is consistent with prior neuroeconomical research. Importantly, socially mindful choices were associated with activity in the right parietal cortex and the caudate, whereas unmindful choices were associated with activity in the left prefrontal cortex. These neural findings were consistent with the behavioural preference for mindful choices, suggesting that socially mindful decisions are the basic inclination, whereas socially unmindful responses may require greater effort and control. Together, these results begin to uncover the neural correlates of socially mindful and unmindful choices, and illuminate the psychological processes involved in cooperative social behaviour.
Highlights
Social mindfulness is being thoughtful of others in the present moment, and considering their needs and wishes before making a decision
The social mindfulness task involves a series of choices for objects, that may have implications for the options that are left for the person
Our results provided important new contributions to our understanding of social mindfulness in the context of social decision making, it is important to consider some of the limitations and boundary conditions in this work
Summary
Social mindfulness is being thoughtful of others in the present moment, and considering their needs and wishes before making a decision Recent research defined this novel construct as “making other-regarding choices involving both skill and will to act mindfully toward other people's control over outcomes” If the father decided to choose the unique item (i.e., the blackberry marmalade), he would literally remove the possibility of choice for his son; the latter can only have strawberry. This can be seen as socially unmindful. The opportunity to choose freely among many options is highly valued in our society (Aoki et al, 2014)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
