Abstract:

Self-punishment refers to behaviors that an individual inflicts pain or imposes sanctions on himself/herself after the transgression. Self-punishment could be influenced by several different factors such as negative emotion, opportunities of remedy, opportunities of compensation at the expense of others and gender. Moreover, two core models, namely emotion model and reciprocity model, were summarized. With the development of neuroscience, it could be inferred that ACC, insula, RLOFC, DMPFC, NAcc, VMPFC are closely linked to self-punishment. Finally, authors’ opinions about future research were provided.

Key words: self-punishment, emotion, reciprocity, cooperation