社会从众的心理和神经机制

People often change their attitudes or behaviours to conform to the attitudes of others, known as social conformity. Several decades of psychological research have been done on this topic, the underlying mechanisms are still not clear. Conceptually, an important distinction drawn in social psychology is between informational conformity, which is concerned with the search for information and accuracy, and normative conformity, which is concerned with group identity and belonging, although both types of conformity results in similar behavioural changes. However, the psychological and neural mechanisms of these two types of conformity cannot easily be distinguished using traditional behavioural methods. Recent neuroimaging studies of conformity produce mixed results, suggesting that they might be different types of conformity and they are associated with different neural substrates. This project aims to use event related potential (ERP) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the psychological and neural mechanisms of conformity using a developmental approach. We will compare informational conformity with normative conformity in adolescents and elderly. Then, we will use the transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to manipulate individuals' conformity tendency. Our research could better our understanding the cognitive and neural mechanisms of different types of conformity, promote a brain science approach to study social behaviours, and may have impacts on social policy, issues concerning adolescents and seniors, and treatments of psychiatric disorders, such as conduct disorders and autisms.

当个体受到群体影响，会改变自己的观点或行为，朝着与群体一致的方向变化，这种现象称为社会从众。从众的神经机制目前仍没有被完全了解。从众行为有不同的类型：信息性从众是指个体出于从他人的行为中获取正确性信息的目的而产生的行为；而规范性从众是指个体迫于群体压力出于希望被接受的目的而作出的行为改变。已有关于从众的行为研究无法区分不同类型从众的内在机制。最近关于从众的脑成像研究结果不一，提示可能不同的研究涉及的是不同类型的从众。本项目利用成熟的脑科学技术，包括事件相关电位 ERP和功能性核磁共振 fMRI，从发展的角度入手，深入探讨从众过程的心理和脑机制。实验中进一步比较信息性和规范性从众神经机制的区别，并在此基础上利用经颅磁刺激 TMS 及经颅电刺激 tDCS，操纵人的从众行为。本研究将在理论上促进对不同类型从众行为神经机制的了解，在研究方法上推动脑科学研究复杂的社会行为，研究结果也将有利于社会的发展。

本项目旨在利用神经科学技术研究社会从众的心理和神经机制。在该项目中，我们利用脑电，功能 性核磁，催产素，和行为范式系统地研究了社会从众的机制。我们发表在Psychological Science (2014) 上的研究表明，社会性信息对个体的影响持续三天左右时间。催产素既对组内从众有促进，对组外从众也有促进 （Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2015)。脑电研究表明，与社会冲突觉察的N400脑波可能是从众的一个神经指标 （Neuropsychologia，2014）。在技术上，我们指出了前人从众研究在统计上忽略了均值回归的问题(Frontiers in Psychology, 2015)。在发展上，我们发现儿童到6岁就发展出长时间的从众效应(Scientific Reports, 2015)。这一系列的研究揭示了从众的心理的生理机制，进一步阐述社会信息在人脑中的加工过程，为自闭症和其它社会交往障碍提供了临床指导。