The conforming brain and deontological resolve

PLoS One. 2014 Aug 29;9(8):e106061. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0106061. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Our personal values are subject to forces of social influence. Deontological resolve captures how strongly one relies on absolute rules of right and wrong in the representation of one's personal values and may predict willingness to modify one's values in the presence of social influence. Using fMRI, we found that a neurobiological metric for deontological resolve based on relative activity in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) during the passive processing of sacred values predicted individual differences in conformity. Individuals with stronger deontological resolve, as measured by greater VLPFC activity, displayed lower levels of conformity. We also tested whether responsiveness to social reward, as measured by ventral striatal activity during social feedback, predicted variability in conformist behavior across individuals but found no significant relationship. From these results we conclude that unwillingness to conform to others' values is associated with a strong neurobiological representation of social rules.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Brain / anatomy & histology
  • Brain / physiology*
  • Brain Mapping / methods
  • Choice Behavior / physiology*
  • Decision Making / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Internal-External Control
  • Judgment
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
  • Morals*
  • Prefrontal Cortex / anatomy & histology
  • Prefrontal Cortex / physiology*
  • Social Conformity
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency [D11AP00289]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.