How important is fairness to negotiated agreements?

The question of whether fairness is a learned behavior through social or cultural influence or has an evolutionary basis may have been answered. A recent study has shown that we are not the only species to value fairness.(1) Researchers studying brown capuchin monkeys, which are a highly social and cooperative species, have found that they display an aversion to unfair behavior.

In the study, two monkey exchanged tokens with a human experimenter for a food reward. The monkeys either received a cucumber or a grape, which was the more favored food reward. The monkeys observed fair treatment where they both received a cucumber for equal effort or unfair treatment where one monkey received a grape for equal effort. When the monkeys observed unequal treatment, they responded by refusing to participate in the exchange, refusing to eat the cucumber or throwing the cucumber at the human experimenter.

The researchers postulated that nonhuman primates are guided by expectations about the way they and others should be treated and how resources should be divided.

So, the next time you find yourself or the person across the table from you reacting to unfair treatment, remember that it could be the result of deeply rooted evolutionary behavior.

For a demonstration of the experiment, please go to: http://www.ted.com/talks/frans_de_waal_do_animals_have_morals.html

1. Brosnan, S.F. & de Waal, F.B.M. Monkeys reject unequal pay. Nature 425, 297-299 (2003).

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