Jie Hu

2011.09 - 2017.07 Peking University, Beijing, China

              Ph.D., School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences 

2007.09 - 2011.07 Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

              B.S. in Psycholgy, Department of Psychology

2019.07        The Neuroeconomics Summer School, New York University

2023.09 till now    East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

               Zijiang Young Scholar, School of Psychololgy and Cognitive Science

2017.09 - 2023.08   University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

               Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Economics, Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics

Dr. Jie Hu finished his PhD in 2017 at the school of psychological and cognitive sciences, Peking University, under supervision of Prof. Xiaolin Zhou, then he worked as post-doctoral researcher in Prof. Christian Ruff’s group, Department of Economics, University of Zurich. In 2023, he joined the School of psychology and cognitive science, East China Normal University, as Zijiang Young Scholar.

His research focusses on the psychological and cognitive neural mechanisms underlying social behavior  in inter-personal contexts. He mainly studies three classes of social decision-making: 1) Resource distribution, with a focus on multiple motives (i.e., concerns for social inequality, inter-personal harm, and social hierarchy) that determine equality-related perception and behaviors, 2) Altruistic behavior, with a focus on the trade-off between self-interest and other-interest, and 3) Trust behavior, with a focus on how self-interest biases the updating of beliefs about others' trustworthiness and trusting behavior. 

In terms of methods, he employs a quantitative approach to investigate human social behaviors at multiple levels (e.g. behavior, neuroimaging, and psychological assessment) with a wide range of techniques  [e.g., electroencephalogram (EEG), functional magenetic resonance imaging (fMRI), brain stimulation,  computational modelling]. 

His studies have 1) deepened our understandings of the cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms underlying contextual and individual differences in equality preferences, distributive justice, altruism, and inter-personal trust; 2) shed critical lights on development of reform policies to promote social equality, social justice, and altruistim at individual, organizational, and societal levels; and 3) provided promising pathways to understand the cognitive and neural basis of clinical disorders with impaired social functions. 

Associate Editor

   Frontiers in Psychology

Review Editor

   Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Ad hoc reviewer

   Psychological Science

   Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

   Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience

   Biological Psychology

   Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience

Fields: Decision neuroscience, Social neuroscience, Neuroeconomics, Social cognition

Methods: EEG, fMRI, tES(tDCS/tACS), TMS, Computational modelling, Eye tracking

Topics: Decision-making, Altruism, Distributive justice, Norm compliance, Prosocial behavior, Fairness, Trust, Social emotion, Social learning, Social hierarchy

Publications (*corresponding author, ^#co-first author)  

Hu, J.*, Konovalov, A., Ruff, C.*(2023). A unified neural account of contextual and individual differences in altruism. eLife, 12:e80667.

Li, Y.^#, Hu, J.*^#, Ruff, C., Zhou, X.* (2022). Neurocomputational evidence that conflicting prosocial motives guide distributive justice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America, 119 (49), e2209078119.

Hu, J., Hu, Y., Li, Y., & Zhou, X.* (2021). Computational and neurobiological substrates of cost-benefit integration in altruistic helping decision. Journal of Neuroscience, 41 (15), 3545-3561.

Blue, P.R., Hu, J., Peng, L., Yu, H., Liu, H., Zhou X.* (2019) Whose promises are worth more? How social status affects trust in promises. European Journal of Social Psychology, 2019, 2020(50): 189-206

Konovalov, A.^#, Hu, J.^#,& Ruff, C. C.^#* (2018). Neurocomputational approaches to social behavior. Current opinion in psychology, 24, 41-47.

Blue, P.R., Hu, J., Zhou X.* (2018)Higher Status Honesty Is Worth More: The Effect of Social Status on Honesty Evaluation. Frontiers in Psychology, 2018, 9: 350.

Hu, J., Li, Y., Yin, Y., Blue, P. R., Yu, H., & Zhou, X.* (2017). How do self-interest and other-need interact in the brain to determine altruistic behavior? Neuroimage, 157, 598-611.

Hu, J., Blue, P. R., Yu, H., Gong, X., Xiang, Y., Jiang, C., Zhou, X.* (2016). Social status modulates the neural response to unfairness. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11(1), 1-10.

Blue, P.R.^#, Hu, J.^#, Wang, X., van Dijk, E., Zhou, X. * (2016). When Do Low Status Individuals Accept Less? The Interaction between Self- and Other-Status during Resource Distribution. Frontiers in Psychology, 7,1667.

Zhao, C., Liu, J., Gong, P., Hu, J., Zhou, X.* (2016) Investigating the genetic basis of social conformity: The role of the dopamine receptor 3 (DRD3) gene. Neuropsychobiology, 74, 32-40.

Hu, J., Cao, Y., Blue P. R., Zhou, X.* (2014). Low social status decreases the neural salience of unfairness. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 8, 402.

Gao, X., Gong, P., Liu, J., Hu, J., Li, Y., Yu, H., Gong, X., Yang, X., Jiang, C., Zhou, X.* (2016). COMT Val158Met polymorphism influences the susceptibility to framing in decision-making: OFC‐amygdala functional connectivity as a mediator. Human Brain Mapping, 37, 1880-1892.

Wang, L., Yu, H., Hu, J., Theeuwes, J., Gong, X., Xiang, Y., Jiang, C., Zhou, X.* (2015). Reward breaks through center-surround inhibition via anterior insula. Human Brain Mapping, 36, 5233-5251.

Yu, H., Hu, J., Hu, L., & Zhou, X.* (2014). The voice of conscience: Neural bases of interpersonal guilt and compensation. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 9, 1150-1158.

Wu, Y., Hu, J., van Dijk, E., Leliveld, M. C., & Zhou, X.* (2012). Brain activity in fairness consideration during asset distribution: Does the initial ownership play a role? PLoS One, 7(6), e39627.

Zhou, X.*, Hu, J., Peng, L. (2015). The neural basis of the effects of social contexts on fairness perception and fairness-related behaviors. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 13(5), 591-598.