Abstract
Although previous studies have demonstrated that identity had effect on justice norms and behavioral decisions, the neural mechanism of that effect remains unclear. In this study, the subjects made their distributive decisions on the trade-off between equity and efficiency among Chinese and foreign children and their scalp potentials were recorded. Behavioral results showed that efficiency consideration played an important part in the distribution task. Meanwhile, participants gave preferential treatment to same-race children. Relative to the distribution within ingroup children, the distribution involving outgroup children induced higher N170 amplitude. The distribution involving outgroup children also elicited weakened P300 amplitude and enhanced delta response than the distribution within ingroup children when subjects are facing the conflict between equality and efficiency. In other words, ingroup bias affected the neural process of the trade-off between equality and efficiency. The combination of time-domain and time-frequency analyses provided spatiotemporal and spectral results for a better understanding of racial ingroup favoritism on distributive justice.
Highlights
Imagine a violent and destructive earthquake hit an area, turning two villages into ruins
Making decisions between ingroup children elicited higher P300 amplitude than decisions involving outgroup children when facing the conflict between equity and efficiency, which was compatible with the results of the delta response
Using the event-related potential (ERP) technique, our finding investigates the time course of the distributive justice that the conflicts between equity and efficiency require a larger amount of cognitive resources engaged in processing a given scenario
Summary
Imagine a violent and destructive earthquake hit an area, turning two villages into ruins. As a member of the rescue team, need to enter this area and provide food supplies to the two villages. Because of the collapsed and blocked highways and roads, delivering food to both of the two villages would cause some meals to spoil. You face such a choice dilemma: if you deliver the food to only one village to maximize the total amount of meals, it will be unfair for the other village; but if you want to help both villages, some food supplies will be spoiled, which are very precious at the moment. The current research aims to examine people’s decisions in such conflicts
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