Profit vs. Principle: The Neurobiology of Integrity

Let your better self rest assured: Dearly held values truly are sacred, and not merely cost-benefit analyses masquerading as nobel intent. Neuroscientist Greg Berns of Emory University and colleagues posed a series of value-based statements to 27 women and 16 men while using an fMRI machine to map their mental activity. Test participants were asked if they'd sign a document stating the opposite of their belief in exchange for a chance at winning up to $100 in cash. If so, they could keep both the money and the document; only their consciences would know. The findings: when people didn't sell out their principles, it wasn't because the price wasn't right. It just seemed wrong. "If it's a sacred value to you, then you can't even conceive of it in a cost-benefit framework," said Berns. This Wired Magazine article shares further.

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