TV programs that denounce unfair advantage impact women’s sensitivity to defection in the public goods game

Abstract

We explore the neural underpinnings of gender differences in cooperation and their modulation by intensive media watching. We compared cooperative decisions and electroencephalograph data between genders from who participated in repeated rounds of the public goods game (PGG) and investigated within groups changes that occurred after watching a TV program known as “investigative reporting” that denounces unfair advantages taken by free-riders against the public. Women tended to be more cooperative than men during early rounds of PGG, mostly because they react differently to the defection of others; women also had greater β and γ band activity in regions estimated to be associated with social cognition. These gender differences disappeared after participants watched the TV programs: women were more likely to choose free-riding in response to the defection of others that elicits significant increases in γ band activities that were estimated to be right insula. Greater activity in social cognition leads women to make decisions considering the motives of others, while men tend to make a decision by complying with the social norm. Watching the investigative TV reports produced a greater negative emotion to the defection and led women, in a similar manner as men, to opt for a “tit-for-tat” strategy.

Keywords:

• Social decision
• Gender difference
• Game theory
• EEG
• Insula

The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. Dongil Chung (Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute) for sharing his knowledge on the EEG data analyses and for his helpful comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) and grants funded by the Korea government [grant number M10644000005-06N4400-00510], [grant number R01-2007-000-21094-0], [grant number M10644000013-06N4400-01310]; Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA)/Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) [grant number 210-7602-003-10743-01-007]; and Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.