People as third-party observers,without direct self-interest,may punish norm violators to maintain social norms.However,third-party judgment and the follow-up punishment might be susceptible to the way we frame(i.e.,verbally describe)a norm violation.We conducted a behavioral and a neuroimaging experiment to investigate the above phenomenon,which we call the"third-party framing effect".In these experiments,participants observed an anonymous perpetrator deciding whether to keep her/his economic benefit while exposing a victim to a risk of physical pain(described as"harming others"in one condition and"not helping others"in the other condition),then they had a chance to punish that perpetrator at their own cost.Our results showed that the participants were more willing to execute third-party punishment under the harm frame compared to the help frame,manifesting a framing effect.Self-reported anger toward perpetrators mediated the relationship between empathy toward victims and the framing effect.Meanwhile,activation of the insula mediated the relationship between mid-cingulate cortex activation and the framing effect;the functional connec-tivity between these regions significantly predicted the size of the framing effect.These findings shed light on the psychological and neural mechanisms of the third-party framing effect.

Jiamiao Yang;Ruolei Gu;Jie Liu;Kexin Deng;Xiaoxuan Huang;Yue-Jia Luo;Fang Cui

School of Psychology,Shenzhen University,Shen-zhen 518060,China;Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Neuro-science,Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center,Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Sciences,Shenzhen Univer-sity,Shenzhen 518060,China;CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science,Institute of Psychology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100101,China;Department of Psychology,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049,China;Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychol-ogy,Faculty of Psychology,Beijing Normal University,Beijing 100875,China

神经科学通报（英文版）

[1]Jiamiao Yang;Ruolei Gu;Jie Liu;Kexin Deng;Xiaoxuan Huang;Yue-Jia Luo;Fang Cui-.To Blame or Not?Modulating Third-Party Punishment with the Framing Effect)[J].神经科学通报（英文版）,2022(05):533-547

Blame,Punishment,Framing,punish,violators,verbally,perpetrator,perpetrators

To,Not,Modulating,Third,Party,Effect,People,as,third,party,observers,without,direct,self,interest,may,maintain,social,norms,However,judgment,follow,up,punishment,might,susceptible,way,frame,violation,We,conducted,behavioral,neuroimaging,investigate,above,phenomenon,which,call,framing,effect,In,these,experiments,participants,observed,anonymous,deciding,whether,keep,his,economic,benefit,exposing,risk,physical,pain,described,harming,others,one,condition,not,helping,then,they,had,chance,that,their,own,cost,Our,results,showed,were,more,willing,execute,under,compared,manifesting,Self,reported,anger,toward,mediated,relationship,between,empathy,victims,Meanwhile,activation,insula,mid,cingulate,cortex,functional,connec,tivity,regions,significantly,predicted,size,These,findings,shed,light,psychological,neural,mechanisms

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