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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 12, 2026

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: August 25, 2023

Self-esteem and risky decision-making: an ERP study.

Juan Yang¹, Katarina Dedovic, Qinglin Zhang

¹Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China. valleyqq@swu.edu.cn

|May 27, 2010

Summary

High and low self-esteem (SE) individuals showed similar risk-taking behaviors. However, high SE participants exhibited distinct brain activity, specifically a more positive P2 event-related potential (ERP) in the posterior cingulate cortex during decision-making.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Decision Science

Background:

Self-esteem influences cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses.
High self-esteem (SE) is linked to less defensiveness in risky situations, while low SE is associated with risk aversion.
Previous research linked self-esteem to risky behavior but not its electrophysiological correlates.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the electrophysiological correlates of risky decision-making in individuals with high versus low self-esteem.
To compare behavioral risk-taking assessments and event-related potentials (ERPs) between high and low SE groups.

Main Methods:

28 undergraduate students played a blackjack game to assess risky decision-making.
Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded using electrophysiological technology.
Dipole source analysis was employed to identify the neural generators of observed ERP components.

Main Results:

No significant differences were found in behavioral risk-taking measures between high and low SE participants.
High SE participants showed a more positive P2 (150-300 ms) ERP amplitude over the central-posterior scalp compared to low SE participants.
Dipole source analysis localized the P2 component to the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC).

Conclusions:

Self-esteem levels do not appear to influence behavioral risk-taking in this blackjack task.
Higher self-esteem is associated with distinct neural processing during decision-making, indicated by enhanced P2 amplitude in the PCC.
These findings suggest that individuals with high self-esteem may process emotional signals differently during risky decision-making.