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For a profit-maximizing rational agent, labor markets present a paradox: Economic contexts encourage exploitation of commodities whereas social contexts discourage exploitation of people and instead promote empathic responding and moral protection. This may result in irrational behavior. Perhaps rational agents reduce spontaneous social–cognitive responses to successfully maximize profits in a labor market. We tested this hypothesis by creating a labor market—an economic market where people serve as commodities. fMRI participants initially purchased players from a time-estimation skill labor market, then revalued these players based on performance in an attempt to maximize profit. Despite implementing a variety of purchasing strategies, we find that participants initially reduce activity in social cognition brain regions when viewing purchased players—an initial reduction consistent with a dehumanized …