Justice for the average Joe: The role of envy and the mentalizing network in the deservingness of others' misfortunes

SMC Author

Caitlin Powell

SMC Affiliated Work

1

Status

Faculty

School

School of Science

Department

Psychology

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2013

Publication / Conference / Sponsorship

Social Neuroscience

Description/Abstract

The misfortunes of enviable individuals are met by observers with pleasure whereas those of “average”, non-enviable individuals elicit pain. These responses are mirrored in deservingness judgments, as enviable individuals’ misfortunes are perceived as deserved and those of non-enviable individuals perceived as undeserved. However, the neural underpinnings of these deservingness disparities remain unknown. To explore this phenomenon, we utilized fMRI to test the hypotheses that (A) non-enviable targets’ misfortunes would be associated with activation of brain regions that mediate empathic responding (pain matrix, mentalizing network) and not for enviable targets and (B) that activation of those regions would predict decreases in deservingness judgments. Supporting our first hypothesis, the misfortunes of non-enviable targets (as opposed to good fortunes) were associated with activation of the mentalizing network: medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, temporal–parietal junction, and anterior temporal lobes. Supporting our second hypothesis, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex activation from this contrast was negatively correlated with subsequent reports of how much the non-enviable target deserved his/her misfortune. These findings suggest that non-enviable individuals’ misfortunes are perceived as unjust due, in part, to the recruitment of the mentalizing network.

Keywords

Envy, Deservingness, Empathy, Misfortune, Mentalizing network, fMRI

Scholarly

yes

DOI

10.1080/17470919.2013.846278

Volume

8

Issue

6

First Page

640

Last Page

649

Disciplines

Psychology

Original Citation

Caitlin Powell (Psychology): “Justice for the average Joe: The role of envy and the mentalizing network in the deservingness of others' misfortunes,” with Chester, D. S., Smith, R. H., Joseph, J. E., Kedia, G., Combs, D. J. Y, and DeWall, N., in Social Neuroscience 8(6), 640-649 (2013). doi:10.1080/17470919.2013.846278

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