Social Inequity Aversion - Humans & Social Inequity Aversion

Humans & Social Inequity Aversion

It is important to note that this experiment is with capuchin monkeys and not humans, and because humans are not the only cooperative animals, monkeys being one of many examples, we cannot assume that inequity aversion is an exclusive human trait or nature. There have been other experiments done with humans to test the validity of the inequity aversion theory proposed by Brosnan and de Waal. An experiment performed by Urs Fischbacher, Christina M. Fong, and Ernst Fehr called “Fairness, Errors, and the Power of Competition” consisted of a multi-lateral ultimatum game where one contestant was put up against multiple ones. In this experiment when the responders accepts the offer from the person giving the reward (say the ‘provider’), the person giving the reward (the provider) gets his full pay. The key to this experiment is that the ability of one responder to affect the pay of the provider is lessened by all of the other responders' willingness to accept the reward. As a result, the concept of inequity aversion is followed, which says that the responders' willingness to reject the reward is lessened as well as the providers' offers. (This is because in order to evade inequality or injustice due to unequal pay, all of the participants reduce their amounts to reduce the chance of unfairness). What’s most important to realize in this experiment is that the outcome does not seem to agree with those of Brosnan and de Waal’s capuchin experiment; humans will not reject the offer unless it affects others reward and/or pay. So for humans, the original Fehr-Schmidt inequity aversion model, which was cited by Brosnan and de Waal in their capuchin experiment saying that the capuchin monkeys should always eat the lower value food, seems to hold validity. By not rejecting the reward offered, the humans decreased the amount of inequality. This was the opposite for the capuchins as they rejected the lower value food (cucumbers) when they couldn’t get the higher value food (grapes) thus increasing the inequality, especially when the capuchins who received the grapes stole the discarded cucumbers, leaving the other monkeys with nothing. That increased the amount of inequality amongst the capuchins—The humans would only reject the reward if it reduced the reward of the individual who received the most.