Monkeys Value Fairness
Gene Douglas
evolved and inborn.
They trained monkeys to get cucumber slices in exchange for giving a token
to the experimenter. A cucumber slice is a second preferred reward, but a
grape is even more preferred.
Then they paired monkeys side by side, and gave one monkey a grape in
exchange for a token. Then they gave the second monkey a cucumber slice in
exchange for the token.
Sometimes the monkey refused to take the cuke slice, sometimes he gave it to
the other monkey, and sometimes he threw the next token. He would then go
on strike, and refuse to give any more tokens at all, even though that meant
he would get nothing.
So if you or I get pissed if we don't get a fair deal, it isn't bad
upbringing. We can't help it. It's in our genes.
dragonlady
"Gene Douglas" <gene...@prodigy.net> wrote:
This is hardly a new idea. Equity is part of motivational theory. It's
the reason many companies make it a fireable offense to disclose your
income to other people: if everyone knew how unfair the salary
disparities were, it would reduce motivation.
meh
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care
Gene Douglas
"dragonlady" <meh...@REMOVEpacbell.net> wrote in message
news:mehouck-193407...@newssvr13-ext.news.prodigy.com...
same principle would not apply if tried if tested on dogs, cats, pigeons or
rats. Pigs are said to be as smart as dogs, as are parrots, and I doubt
they would respond the same. Porpoises are group-living, social animals,
and may very well. Currently, they're expanding the experiment to chimps.
Arthur Meineke
"Gene Douglas" <gene...@prodigy.net> wrote in message
news:fBEab.180$9j...@newssvr16.news.prodigy.com...
chimps. If one of them spots a hidden cache of fruit and knows that another
chimp can see him, he waits until the other chimp is gone before helping
himself to the stash.
Later...
>
>
Dirk Coburn
This tells me that nature gives us not a sense of fairness but a sense
of unfairness. It tells me that the truly generous among us are a lot
better than the rest of us monkeys. :)
Gene Douglas
"Arthur Meineke" <amei...@houston.rr.com> wrote in message
news:83Gab.48933$834....@twister.austin.rr.com...
Greed and selfishness seem to be a part of chimp makeup. Somebody left a lot
of stalks of bananas for chimps to find, and when they came upon them, they
virtually rioted, each trying to take as many as possible for himself.
>
>
Gene Douglas
"Dirk Coburn" <dirkc...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:d100bd90.03091...@posting.google.com...
The odd thing in the experiment was that the "winning" monkey did not
respond to the unfairness at all. That was thought to be related to the
social organization in that line of monkeys (capuchin.) Though capuchins
were chosen because they share food, apparently altruism doesn't run strong
among them.
Sarah Berel-Harrop
news:<aMtab.2$uy...@newssvr16.news.prodigy.com>...
>
> This tells me that nature gives us not a sense of fairness but a sense
> of unfairness. It tells me that the truly generous among us are a lot
> better than the rest of us monkeys. :)
I have not read this book , but I have read a few
favorable reviews, _Unto Others_ I think Wilson and
Sober. For Sure, Sober. There are some more
articles about density-dependent selection, look
for "group selection" author - john wilkins group =
talk.origins and you will get the cites.
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