Gender Differences in Justice Evaluations: Evidence From fMRI

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Dulebohn, James H.; Davison, Robert B.; Lee, Seungcheol Austin; Conlon, Donald E.; McNamara, Gerry; Sarinopoulos, Issidoros C.
• 署名单位: Michigan State University; Texas Tech University System; Texas Tech University; Northern Kentucky University; Michigan State University; Michigan State University's Broad College of Business; Michigan State University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-9010
• DOI: 10.1037/apl0000048
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 151-170
• 关键词: justice; Gender roles; Information processing; neuroscience; decision-making

摘要

Justice research examining gender differences has yielded contrasting findings. This study enlists advanced techniques in cognitive neuroscience (fMRI) to examine gender differences in brain activation patterns in response to procedural and distributive justice manipulations. We integrate social role, information processing, justice, and neuroscience literature to posit and test for gender differences in 2 neural subsystems known to be involved in the appraisal of self-relevant events. Results indicate that the relationship between justice information processing and neural activity in areas representing these subsystems is significantly influenced by gender, with greater activation for females than males during consideration of both procedural and distributive justice information. In addition, we find evidence that gender and distributive injustice interact to influence bargaining behavior, with females rejecting ultimatum game offers more frequently than males. Results also demonstrate activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and ventral striatum brain regions during procedural justice evaluation is associated with offer rejection in females, but not in males. Managerial implications based on the study's support for gender differences in justice perceptions are discussed.