Not-so Independent Thinkers

 

              It seems almost a right of passage in ones life to be asked the hypothetical “If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?” Now perhaps you would not go to such extremes, though it is plausible that your decisions are in fact influenced by the decisions of your friends. What this loosely describes is a classic psychological effect called cognitive balance in which an individual will develop preferences that are in line with a person or people they perceive as a social ideal and will conversely develop dislikes based on the preferences of a group they perceive as not ideal. To put it simply, we have likes that are in line with people we like and have dislikes in like with people we don’t. With this phenomenon feeling so common place, studies relating to the physiological response correlated with this effect have been gaining popularity.

              Izuma et al. hypothesized that the posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC) would be representative of preference changes based off imbalanced states relating to triadic relationships. These relationships are categorized by three attitudes held in an individual of interest-the first being that individual’s attitude toward another person, the second being the individuals attitude to the object of relevance, and third the other person’s attitude toward that same object. A balanced triadic relationship would be if all three attitudes are positive or if two attitudes are positive with one negative. An example of the latter would be if two individuals like each other but do not like the same object. An imbalance in the attitudes would motivate the individual to change their preferences so that balance is restored-for example, an individual may not like red cars but a colleague they hold in high esteem may drive and enjoy red cars, so suddenly that initial individual is developing a new preference for red vehicles. For a while though, that individual was at odds with their own preference and the preference of a person whom they viewed as a social ideal- this is representative of the imbalanced state.

              The Izuma et al. study used fMRI imaging for studying the pMFC in their subjects and found a significant association between mPFC activation and preference change. Activation in the region sensitive to reward was observed, indicating that agreeing with liked others as well as disagreeing with disliked others may both be rewarding to the individual undergoing a preference change. In fact, this activation-reward relationship provides significance to long-term behavioral changes, with altered preferences being maintained in subjects months after the completed study.

Activation of the posterior medical frontal cortex of the brain has the potential to change preferences for the long-term after a single social interaction. To this end, perhaps it may be more conducive to find friends more closely aligned to your own initial preferences- if they were ever truly yours to begin with.

Reference: 

Izuma K, Adolphs R. Social manipulation of preference in the human brain. Neuron. 2013 May 8;78(3):563-73. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.03.023. PMID: 23664619; PMCID: PMC3695714.