Self-knowledge reduces conflict by biasing one of plural possible answers.
The authors investigated whether self-knowledge has a function to reduce conflict by biasing one of two choices during occupational choice (e.g., Which occupation do you think you could do better?-dancer or chemist). In the three experiments, event-related brain potentials were recorded. Experiment 1 revealed that the amplitude of the conflict-related negativity (CRN) reflects strength of conflict during occupational choice. Results of Experiment 2 demonstrated that the CRN amplitude during occupational choice was smaller when self-knowledge was activated than when other-knowledge was activated. Experiment 3 showed that the CRN amplitude during occupational choice was decreased more when self-knowledge that biases one choice of occupation was activated than when self-knowledge that does not bias was activated. These results suggest that self-knowledge reduces conflict by biasing one of multiple choices in situations where two or more possible correct answers can be given.
Nakao
Takashi
T
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan. takana818@lit.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Mitsumoto
Mayo
M
Nashiwa
Hitomi
H
Takamura
Masahiro
M
Tokunaga
Satoko
S
Miyatani
Makoto
M
Ohira
Hideki
H
Katayama
Kaori
K
Okamoto
Akane
A
Watanabe
Yu
Y
D000293:Adolescent; D002321:Career Choice; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011287:Prejudice; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D055815:Young Adult