Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Finnzymes

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 23 November 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5854, pp. 1305 - 1308
DOI: 10.1126/science.1145876
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Social Comparison Affects Reward-Related Brain Activity in the Human Ventral Striatum

K. Fliessbach,1 B. Weber,1 P. Trautner,1 T. Dohmen,2 U. Sunde,2 C. E. Elger,1 A. Falk3*

Whether social comparison affects individual well-being is of central importance for understanding behavior in any social environment. Traditional economic theories focus on the role of absolute rewards, whereas behavioral evidence suggests that social comparisons influence well-being and decisions. We investigated the impact of social comparisons on reward-related brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). While being scanned in two adjacent MRI scanners, pairs of subjects had to simultaneously perform a simple estimation task that entailed monetary rewards for correct answers. We show that a variation in the comparison subject's payment affects blood oxygenation level–dependent responses in the ventral striatum. Our results provide neurophysiological evidence for the importance of social comparison on reward processing in the human brain.

1 Life and Brain Center Bonn, Department of NeuroCognition and Clinic of Epileptology, Bonn, Germany.
2 Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, Germany.
3 University of Bonn, Department of Economics, Bonn, Germany.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: armin.falk{at}uni-bonn.de

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The role of moral utility in decision making: An interdisciplinary framework.
P. N. Tobler, A. Kalis, and T. Kalenscher (2008)
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 8, 390-401
   Abstract »    PDF »
Do you make a difference? Social context in a betting task.
N. E. Nawa, E. E. Nelson, D. S. Pine, and M. Ernst (2008)
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Neuroscientist Comments.
(2008)
Neuroscientist 14, 134-135
   PDF »
Antisocial Punishment Across Societies.
B. Herrmann, C. Thoni, and S. Gachter (2008)
Science 319, 1362-1367
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)