Distinct effects of self-construal priming on empathic neural responses in Chinese and Westerners

作者:Jiang, Chao; Varnum, Michael E W; Hou, Youyang; Han, Shihui*
来源:Social Neuroscience, 2014, 9(2): 130-138.
DOI:10.1080/17470919.2013.867899

摘要

The present study investigated whether and how self-construal priming influences empathic neural responses to others' emotional states. We recorded event-related brain potentials to stimuli depicting the hands of unknown others experiencing painful or non-painful events from Chinese and Western participants after they had been primed in three conditions (independent self-construal priming, interdependent self-construal priming, and a control condition). Stimuli depicting painful events (as opposed to non-painful ones) elicited a positive shift of the fronto-central activity at 232-332ms and of the central-parietal activity at 440-740ms in the control condition. Moreover, neural responses to stimuli depicting painful (vs. non-painful) situations at 232-332ms were decreased by interdependent self-construal priming among Chinese and by independent self-construal priming among Westerners. Our findings suggest that self-construal priming modulates sensitivity to perceived pain in unknown others and that this effect varies with culture.