Eight studies explored the antecedents and consequences of whether people locate their sense of self in the brain or the heart.

In Studies 1a–f, participants’ self-construals consistently influenced the location of the self: The general preference for locating the self in the brain rather than the heart was enhanced among men, Americans, and participants primed with an independent self-construal, but diminished among women, Indians, and participants primed with an interdependent self-construal.

In Study 2, participants’ perceived location of the self influenced their judgments of controversial medical issues.

In Study 3, we primed participants to locate the self in the brain or the heart, which influenced how much effort they put into writing a support letter for and how much money they donated to a charity for a brain disease (Alzheimer’s disease) or a heart disease (coronary artery disease).

{ Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes }

photo { Kelsey Bennett }

science | May 1st, 2015