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  • November 2009
  • Article
  • Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

Neural Mechanisms of Social Influence

By: Malia Mason, Rebecca Dyer and Michael I. Norton
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:8
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Abstract

The present investigation explores the neural mechanisms underlying the impact of social influence on preferences. We socially tagged symbols as valued or not-by exposing participants to the preferences of their peers-and assessed subsequent brain activity during an incidental processing task in which participants viewed popular, unpopular, and novel symbols. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) differentiated between symbols that were and were not socially tagged-a possible index of normative influence-while aspects of the striatum (the caudate) differentiated between popular and unpopular symbols-a possible index of informational influence. These results suggest that integrating activity in these two brain regions may differentiate objects that have become valued as a result of social influence from those valued for non-social reasons.

Keywords

Power and Influence; Value; Information; Outcome or Result

Citation

Mason, Malia, Rebecca Dyer, and Michael I. Norton. "Neural Mechanisms of Social Influence." Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 110, no. 2 (November 2009): 152–159.
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About The Author

Michael I. Norton

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

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  • Laughter on Call: Injecting Conversational Levity By: Alison Wood Brooks, Michael I. Norton and F Katelynn Boland
  • Reaching for Rigor and Relevance: Better Marketing Research for a Better World By: Shilpa Madan, Gita Venkataramani Johar, Jonah Berger, Pierre Chandon, Rajesh Chandy, Rebecca Hamilton, Leslie John, Aparna Labroo, Peggy J. Liu, John G. Lynch, Nina Mazar, Nicole Mead, Vikas Mittal, Christine Moorman, Michael I. Norton, John Roberts, Dilip Soman, Madhu Viswanathan and Katherine White
  • Calculators for Women: When Identity-Based Appeals Backfire By: Tami Kim, Kate Barasz, Michael I. Norton and Leslie K. John
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