Inequity aversion in capuchins?
- 1 March 2004
- journal article
- editorial
- Published by Springer Nature in Nature
- Vol. 428 (6979) , 139
- https://doi.org/10.1038/428139a
Abstract
Brosnan and de Waal have shown that capuchin monkeys are more likely to reject a cucumber slice after seeing that another capuchin has received a more attractive grape. In interpreting this finding, the authors make a link to work in humans on 'inequity aversion' and suggest that capuchins, like humans, may reject rewards because they are averse to unequal pay-offs. Here I argue that this interpretation suffers from three problems: the results contradict the predictions of the inequity-aversion model that Bosnan and de Waal cite; experimental results indicate that humans do not behave like capuchins in similar circumstances; and the available evidence does not suggest that inequity aversion is cross-culturally universal.Keywords
This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit:
- Foundations of Human SocialityPublished by Oxford University Press (OUP) ,2004
- Monkeys reject unequal payNature, 2003
- In Search of Homo Economicus: Behavioral Experiments in 15 Small-Scale SocietiesAmerican Economic Review, 2001
- Does Culture Matter in Economic Behavior? Ultimatum Game Bargaining Among the Machiguenga of the Peruvian AmazonAmerican Economic Review, 2000
- A Theory of Fairness, Competition, and CooperationThe Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1999
- Anonymity versus Punishment in Ultimatum BargainingGames and Economic Behavior, 1995