Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
7286328 | Cognition | 2016 | 7 Pages |
Abstract
Rule compliance is pivotal for the regulation of social behavior. Still, humans deliberately violate rules at times - be it for personal reasons or for a higher good. Whereas previous research has studied the preconditions and consequences of rule violations, essentially nothing is known about the cognitive processes right at the moment a rule violation takes place. Here we show that merely labeling an action as rule violation induces substantial conflict between rule violation and compliance, as revealed by participants' bias towards rule-complying motor actions. Moreover, conflict that comes with violating a rule was much stronger than conflict that comes with following an alternative rule, even if both decisions result in the same observable behavior. These observations open a new theoretical perspective on rule violation behavior, shifting the focus toward the cognitive processes operating during the very act of rule violation.
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Cognitive Neuroscience
Authors
Roland Pfister, Robert Wirth, Katharina A. Schwarz, Marco Steinhauser, Wilfried Kunde,