A1 Journal article (refereed)
Nudge for justice : An ERP investigation of default effects on trade-offs between equity and efficiency (2020)

Yu, J., Wang, Y., Yu, J., Zhang, G., & Cong, F. (2020). Nudge for justice : An ERP investigation of default effects on trade-offs between equity and efficiency. Neuropsychologia, 149, Article 107663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107663

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Yu, Jiaxin; Wang, Yan; Yu, Jianling; Zhang, Guanghui; Cong, Fengyu

Journal or series: Neuropsychologia

ISSN: 0028-3932

eISSN: 1873-3514

Publication year: 2020

Volume: 149

Article number: 107663

Publisher: Elsevier

Publication country: United Kingdom

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107663

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access:

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/72717

Abstract

Default options are an increasingly common tool used by organizations, managers, and policymakers to guide individuals’ behavior. We wondered whether the known preference for default options could constitute a nudge to achieve more equitable or more efficient results. Combining with event-related potentials, we found that both the default option and distributive justice contributed significantly to decision-making. The N200s and P300s were extracted using the tensor decomposition, which showed superiority in terms of capturing multi-domain features. The results demonstrated that greater brain activity associated with conflict monitoring was elicited in the trade-off between equity and efficiency when the default could not represent a socially desirable action. Besides, participants attached more motivational/affective significance to equitable defaults than inequitable but maybe efficient default options. Further, individuals with larger neural response differences between equitable and inequitable defaults appeared to be more inequity aversion in behavior. These findings offer a novel perspective on the role of default effects on distributive justice, while contributing to both organizational policy and practice by using the default to improve social welfare.

Keywords: equality (values); efficiency (properties); division (passive); decision making; paradigms; hypotheses; brain; behaviour analysis; neuropsychology

Free keywords: nudge; default effect; equity; efficiency; distributive justice; tensor decomposition

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2020

JUFO rating: 2