The Selfishness switch: Explanation for Reputhugs being the way they are?

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20061005/hl_hsn/studyspotsthebrainsselfishnessoffswitch

THURSDAY, Oct. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Civil society may hinge on a tiny piece of tissue at the front of the human brain, a new study suggests.

Experiments involving a "fairness" game show that the right side of this region -- called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex -- helps people suppress selfish urges in obviously unjust situations, even at their own expense.

When researchers used a mild electric current to temporarily short-circuit this area, the law of the jungle quickly reasserted itself.

People with disabled right-side dorsolateral prefrontal cortexes grabbed whatever money they could from lopsided transactions -- even when they knew the deal they were getting was grossly unfair.

"They understood the unfairness of it all, but they simply couldn't inhibit their need for getting the money," said Paul Sanberg, director of the Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa.

Sanberg was not involved in the study, which is published in the Oct. 6 issue of Science.