Evolution of responses to (un)fairness

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Sarah F. Brosnan, Georgia State University; Frans B M De Waal, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2014-10-17
• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1251776
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Science
• ISSN: 0036-8075
• Volume: 346
• Issue: 6207
• Start Page: 1251776
• End Page: 1251776
• Grant/Funding Information: S.F.B. was funded by NSF CAREER grant SES 0847351 and NSF SES 1123897.
• Keywords: Reward; Humans; Social Justice; Phylogeny; Cooperative Behavior; Hominidae; Animals; Social Discrimination; Biological Evolution
• Research Categories: Biology, Neuroscience; Psychology, General

Abstract

The human sense of fairness is an evolutionary puzzle. To study this, we can look to other species, in which this can be translated empirically into responses to reward distribution. Passive and active protest against receiving less than a partner for the same task is widespread in species that cooperate outside kinship and mating bonds. There is less evidence that nonhuman species seek to equalize outcomes to their own detriment, yet the latter has been documented in our closest relatives, the apes. This reaction probably reflects an attempt to forestall partner dissatisfaction with obtained outcomes and its negative impact on future cooperation.We hypothesize that it is the evolution of this response that allowed the development of a complete sense of fairness in humans, which aims not at equality for its own sake but for the sake of continued cooperation.