Cultural influences on the processing of social comparison feedback signals – An ERP study

Autor(en)

Daniela Pfabigan, Anna Wucherer, Xuena Wang, Xinyue Pan, Claus Lamm, Shihui Han

Abstrakt

This study investigated cultural differences regarding social connectedness in association with social vs non-social comparison feedback. We performed electroencephalography in 54 Chinese and 49 Western adults while they performed a time estimation task in which response-accuracy feedback was either delivered pertaining to participants' own performance (non-social reference frame) or to the performance of a reference group (social reference frame). Trait interdependence and independence were assessed using a cultural orientations questionnaire. Applying a principal component approach, we observed divergent effects for the two cultural groups during feedback processing. In particular, Feedback-Related Negativity results indicated that non-social (vs social) reference feedback was more salient/motivating for Chinese participants, while Westerners showed the opposite pattern. The results suggest that Chinese individuals perceive a non-social context as more salient than a social comparison context, possibly due to their extensive experience of social comparisons in daily life. The reverse pattern was found in Western participants, for whom a social comparison context is less common and presumably more salient. The cultural differences in neural responses to social vs non-social feedback might be caused by culturally diverse cognitive traits, as well as by exposure to culturally defined behaviour on a systemic level-such as the education system.

Organisation(en)

Department für Verhaltens- und Kognitionsbiologie, Institut für Psychologie der Kognition, Emotion und Methoden

Externe Organisation(en)

Peking University

Journal

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

Band

13

Seiten

1317–1326

Anzahl der Seiten

10

ISSN

1749-5016

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsy097

Publikationsdatum

12-2018

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

501021 Sozialpsychologie, 501014 Neuropsychologie, 501011 Kognitionspsychologie

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/d54919d4-4312-4bba-b56c-5cc84c4fa7a4