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Animals Seem to Have An Inherent Sense Of Fairness and Justice

SCIENCE JOURNAL
By SHARON BEGLEY
Animals Seem to Have An Inherent Sense Of Fairness and Justice
November 10, 2006; Page B1

As there is no such thing as a free lunch, Sammy and Bias had to work
for theirs. The two capuchin monkeys (the species once employed by
organ grinders) sat in side-by-side cages separated by a mesh barrier
while just beyond the bars was a tray holding two cups of food. It
was counterweighted so that both monkeys had to pull a bar to haul in
lunch, moving the tray snugly against the cage in such a way that
Sammy could reach one cup and Bias the other.

But Sammy was in such a hurry to chow down that after grabbing the
apple in her cup, she let go of the tray before Bias could dig into
her own. The tray snapped out of reach, causing Bias to scream bloody
murder. After half a minute, Sammy understood. She reached out for
the tray and helped Bias reel it in.

Anyone who has been around toddlers will recognize Bias's reaction as
a simian, "That's not fair!"

The concept of equity -- and fury when it is violated -- lies deep in
the human psyche. But scientists have long wondered whether it is a
product of learning or something innate, from deep in our
evolutionary past. That question has taken on added importance as
behavioral economists probe why people sometimes make "irrational"
decisions, such as rejecting a payoff that would leave them
quantitatively better off if a rival unfairly benefits.

Sammy's reaction, righting the inequity, hints at something even more
intriguing: Animals other than humans are not only sensitive to
unfairness, but are driven to rectify it. Philosophers have long
argued that this ability underlies much of our human morality.

The search for the roots of our sense of equity began, as science
often does, with casual observations. Primatologist Frans de Waal of
the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, once saw a
female chimp, Puist, help her male friend, Luit, chase off a rival.
The rival took it out on Puist. Although Puist reached out her hand
to Luit in a plea for backup, Luit "did not lift a finger to protect
her," recalls Prof. de Waal in a recent paper. You could imagine
the "that's not fair!" module in her mind turning on. Once the rival
left, Puist "turned on Luit, barking furiously. She chased him across
the enclosure and pummeled him."

Treat me unfairly? Take that!

Capuchins, too, know unfairness when they see it. They prefer grapes
to cucumbers, and when a scientist gave a grape to one capuchin and a
cucumber to another, the latter threw it onto the ground and stalked
away rather than acquiesce to this injustice.

Now, the research is moving from observations to experiments, such as
the pull-tray that triggered Bias's tantrum. To test how sensitive
capuchins are to inequity, Prof. de Waal and colleagues
counterweighted the tray so that it required only one monkey to reel
it in. In this case, the monkey almost never shares its apple with
the monkey who hasn't helped. No work, no pay is fair.

When pulling the tray requires two monkeys' efforts, but only one cup
is filled, the lucky monkey often shares its spoils. "Winners were,
in effect, compensating their partners for received assistance,"
Prof. de Waal writes. It was the fair thing to do.

To be sure, a saintly commitment to fairness isn't the only thing
going on here. By being magnanimous, the monkey who shares his reward
with a hard-working but unrewarded partner makes it more likely that
when the tables are turned, she will be treated with equal generosity.

Paired with a relative, monkeys are even more willing to pull the
tray, even if their own cup (which they can see from afar) is
empty. "Fair," it seems, covers a family member reaping the rewards
of your labors even if you don't.

Even when little or no effort is required, chimps and capuchins balk
at unfair situations, says anthropologist Sarah Brosnan of Emory
University. In a series of experiments, the animals learned to trade
a "token" (a rock or plastic pipe) with a trainer for food. If they
saw a cagemate trade for a delectable grape, but were offered a
cucumber in exchange for their own token, they were much more likely
to refuse to hand it over for the stupid vegetable. Better to go
hungry than to give in to this unfairness.

A sense of fairness underlies irrational choices by humans, too.
Economists assume that economic decisions are rational, but in many
cases people prefer to gain less in order to punish someone who is
behaving unfairly. If a partner proposes a $7/$3 split of $10 offered
in an experiment, many people reject it outright, gaining nothing
rather than accepting the inequity. "People are willing to give up
their own potential gain to block someone else from unfairly getting
more than themselves," says Ms. Brosnan, who points to resistance to
globalization and free trade as current examples.

It isn't hard to see the survival value of being able to detect
inequity. Cooperation requires a grasp of fairness. You need to be
able to detect (and punish) freeloaders to keep a cooperative society
running. "Fairness counts," she says. "Humans and other animals are
able to detect unfairness because doing so is beneficial."

And, it seems, it's an ancient attribute of the primate mind.

You can email me at sciencejournal@wsj.com1.

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