Disconfirmation modulates the neural correlates of the false consensus effect: A parametric modulation approach

Area of Science:

• Social Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• The false consensus effect (FCE) is a pervasive cognitive bias where individuals overestimate the extent to which others share their attitudes and beliefs.
• Understanding the neural underpinnings of FCE is crucial for comprehending social reasoning and its societal impact.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the neural correlates of individual differences in the false consensus effect using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
• To explore how social feedback, particularly disconfirmation, modulates the brain activity associated with FCE.

Main Methods:

• Employed fMRI to measure brain activity in participants while they evaluated social and political issues.
• Assessed within-subject variation in consensus bias by comparing participants' attitudes to perceived group consensus.
• Analyzed brain region activation (e.g., self-related cognition, mentalizing, valuation) in relation to consensus bias and social disconfirmation.

Main Results:

• Consensus bias showed a significant association with activity in brain regions involved in self-referential processing, mentalizing, and value-based decision-making.
• Activation in these neural regions predicted consensus bias primarily when participants received social feedback that contradicted their own attitudes (social disconfirmation).
• Motivational factors, such as the need to affirm the normativity of one's own beliefs, appear to moderate the psychological and neural mechanisms of FCE.

Conclusions:

• The neural basis of the false consensus effect is modulated by social context, particularly when encountering disconfirming information.
• Motivated cognition plays a significant role in the tendency to project one's own attitudes onto others, supporting existing social psychological theories.
• This study highlights the interplay between self-perception, social feedback, and motivated reasoning in shaping social judgments.