Why people hesitate to help: Neural correlates of the counter-dynamics of altruistic helping and individual differences in daily helping tendencies

Recent psychological and neuroimaging studies on altruism–egoism dilemmas have promoted our understanding of the processes underlying altruistic motivation; however, little attention has been paid to the egoistic counter-dynamics that prompt hesitancy to help. These counter-dynamics may involve the construction of reasons not to help based on contextual elaboration and explain individual differences in the tendency to help others in daily life. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we explored the neural correlates of altruism–egoism dilemmas during empathy-driven helping decisions, with particular attention to the counter-dynamics related to individual helping tendency traits. We used two context-rich helping decision scenarios. In the empathy dilemma (Emp) scenario, empathy-driven motivation to help a poor person was associated with a cost, whereas in the economic-dilemma (Eco) scenario, self-beneficial motivation to help a non-poor person was associated with a cost. Our results showed activation of the right anterior prefrontal cortices, supramarginal gyrus, and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) for the altruism–egoism dilemma (i.e., Emp > Eco). A significant negative effect of the helping tendency trait score was observed on PCC activation; interestingly, this effect was observed for both Emp and Eco dilemmas. The identified neural correlates of altruism–egoism dilemmas appear to be related to the construction of decision reasons based on contextual elaboration in naturalistic situations. In contrast to the classical view, our results suggest a two-stage model that includes an altruistic helping decision followed by counter-dynamics to determine the individual helping tendency.