Intuition criticizes self, analysis protects mother: evidence from an ERPs study

In collectivistic cultures, individuals' self-concept is deeply intertwined with perceptions of their mother. However, evaluation biases towards both the self and the mother, as well as the underlying cognitive mechanisms, remain unclear. This study explored self-mother evaluation biases under intuitive processing, extending prior research on analytical processing. Using the Remember/Know self-reference paradigm and event-related potentials (ERPs) technology, we manipulated response time and cognitive load to dissociate intuitive from analytical processing. Results showed that, under analytical processing conditions, maternal negative trait words elicited a stronger N400 component, indicating a positive bias in the evaluation of mothers, while self-negative trait words evoked a stronger LPP component, reflecting a negative processing bias toward self-related traits. Under intuitive processing conditions, individuals showed no evaluative bias toward their mothers, whereas self-positive trait words triggered enhanced N200 and N400 components, demonstrating a negative bias in self-evaluation. The modesty effect may explain the negative bias in self-evaluation during intuitive processing. The tendency to defend mothers' evaluations may be attributable to the emotional bond formed through long-term maternal parenting in collectivistic cultures.