Social norms, self-control, and the value of antisocial behavior

Social norms facilitate large-scale cooperation by promoting prosocial interactions and constraining antisocial behavior. Dominant models of norm compliance emphasize the role of effortful, capacity-limited inhibitory control in prosocial cooperation. Similarly, clinical science has focused on inhibitory deficits as a key source of persistent norm-violating behavior. Support for an inhibition-based 'braking success/braking failure' (BSBF) model is derived from evidence of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) engagement during norm-guided behavior, and of DLPFC dysfunction in antisocial individuals. However, three challenges motivate an alternative explanation for links between self-control, DLPFC, and normbased behavior. Here, I propose a value-based alternative to the BSBF model, in which prosocial norm compliance and antisocial norm violations both arise from interactions between prefrontal model-based and striatal model-free decisionmaking systems.